Geographical Indication (GI) options for Ethiopian Coffee and Ghanaian Cocoa

Innovation & Intellectual Property
organic certification and vice versa. However, producer groups that qualify for
organic certification also have to undergo an independent certification process
for fair trade and environmental certification. In addition to the cost producers
incur in the form of application fees, the subjectivity and lack of uniformity in
criteria-setting and conformity-assessment procedures across the schemes make
attaining certification challenging. A number of respondents suggested the need
for a harmonisation of standards in certification schemes in order to achieve
more coherent and effective agricultural development.
5. Feasibility of GIs
Certification schemes appeal primarily to consumers willing to pay a higher price
out of consideration for the socio-economic conditions of agricultural producers
or out of consideration for the minimal environmental impact of the producers’
methods of production. GIs, in contrast, make an appeal to consumers based on
perceived quality, reputation or other distinctive characteristics of the product
itself. GIs and certification schemes also significantly differ in the degree of control
each offers to the communities who embrace them. GIs are unique types of
IP, and as such they grant their owners all the attributes of property ownership,
including: the power to control the resource; the right to determine what use is
made of it and under what conditions; and, most importantly, the right to exclude
others from use of it (Strahilevitz, 2006). GIs provide their owners with better leverage
(than that afforded by certification schemes) to bargain for improved prices
for their products through collective proprietary control.
Because of the fundamental distinction between the two, GIs and certification
schemes tend to fall into distinct regimes. GIs mostly fall under IP legal regimes;
fair trade labelling schemes and environmental or organic labelling schemes are
generally voluntary initiatives and do not fall into a particular legal regime, even
though they can be enhanced by trademarks. For example, some labelling organisations,
such as Fairtrade, have registered their labels as trademarks in order to
achieve a higher level of protection. In such cases, labelling schemes often overlap
and are conflated with trademarks. Organic certification schemes are, in some
ways, exceptions, to the extent that they are typically institutionalised through
national legislation such that producers cannot use the term “organic” without
certification by government or a government-mandated agency.
The price in the alternative value chain (through certification schemes) for
Ethiopian coffee and Ghanaian cocoa largely reflects the conventional international
price for the two products. According to the latest data available, certification
schemes were connected to only 5% of Ghanaian cocoa and about 28% of
90