The race for national GIs has started

Monday this week, the iptango blog posted the new Normative Instruction (IN) No 25/2013 regarding the conditions for the registration of Geographical Indications (GI) in Brazil. At the end of the post I mentioned that this was perhaps going to give a boost to national products and it was indeed a good time since Brazil is hosting two major sport events in the near future i.e. World Cup and the Olympics.

Today, I received the ‘Revista da Propiedade Industrial’ (IP magazine) No 2230, 01 October, 2013 and guess what?! INPI granted yet another GI for a national product. This time, an Indicação de Procedência (Indication of Source) was approved for wine producers in the region of Belo Monte. The certificate is granted to wine producers in the said region represented by the Associação dos vitivinicultores de Monte Belo do Sul (APROBELO).


In reality, I do not think this has something to do with the forthcoming events. According to the magazine Globo Rural, this project started in 2008 when 12 winemakers from Belo Monte felt inspired by the “success of the Vale dos Vinhedos in Bento Gonçalves” the only Brazilian region that at the time did have a GI certificate (an Indication of source and later on, a denomination of origin).


Indeed, the granting of another GI to a wine is not to be taking as a bombshell. In particual, INPI informs that in the Belo Monte region the “wine industry represents more than 90% of the agricultural production" which counts for "40% of the municipal GDP".