On March 18, 2025, the Parliament of Georgia supported the ratification of the “Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications”. As a result, the scope of protection of Georgian unique products has significantly expanded and includes 23 states and 2 intergovernmental organizations that are parties to the Geneva Act – the European Union and the African Intellectual Property Organization.
The Lisbon Agreement itself is an international treaty regulating only appellations of origin, which does not apply to geographical indications. The Geneva Act, however, gave the contracting parties the opportunity to extend the protection of geographical indications, along with appellations of origin, to new important markets.
The accession to the Geneva Act was preceded by a reform implemented by the National Intellectual Property Center of Georgia “Sakpatenti”. In particular, the Parliament of Georgia adopted a new Law “On Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications of Goods” in September 2023.
Nowadays, 39 appellations of origin and 31 geographical indications are registered in Georgia.