한·일 한·중 FTA 대비 지리적표시 보호를 위한 대응방안 연구

Abstract

우리나라는 2004년 칠레를 시작으로 싱가포르, 유럽자유무역연합, 아세안 등과 FTA를 체결하였다. 2007년 미국, 2009년에는 유럽과의 FTA 협상을 타결하였으며, 중국, 일본과도 FTA를 추진 중에 있다. 특히, 한·중·일간 농산물 교역량이 점증하는 시점에서 한·중 또는 한·일간 FTA 체결 시 중요한 쟁점의 하나가 지리적표시이다.

한국, 중국, 일본은 동일한 한자문화권을 형성하고 있어 발음이 동일하거나 의미가 같은 지리적명칭이 많이 있다. 이 지역에서 지리적명칭이 원칙 없이 사용된다면 수많은 지리적표시가 난무할 가능성이 높다. 한·중 또는 한·일간 FTA 체결 시 중요한 이슈가 될 가능성 높은 지리적표시에 관한 검토를 통해 우리나라 지리적표시 보호를 위한 사전 대책을 강구할 필요가 있다.

이 연구는 한·중, 한·일 FTA 추진 시 예상되는 지리적표시 보호 분야의 쟁점을 파악하여 FTA 협상에 효율적으로 대응하는 방안을 모색하고, 이를 통해 국내 지리적표시 품목의 국제적 보호를 제고하기 위한 것이다.

Following FTA with Chile that came into effect in 2004, FTAs with Singapore, European Free Trade Association(EFTA), and ASEAN that Korea struck took effect as well. Korea concluded FTAs with Europe in 2007 and with the U.S. in 2009, and currently it is pursuing FTAs with China and Japan. In particular, the protection of geographical indications(GI) needs to be taken into consideration because it is highly likely to be an issue at the center of negotiations for Korea-Japan and Korea-China FTAs and to have a great impact on the agricultural trade, given that Korea, China and Japan share the same cultural zone that uses Chinese characters in thier languages, increasing the possibility of unfair GI use. The GI is a system that prevents any unfair use of the established fame and reputation about quality or taste of products from a local area. The GI system of Korea has been implemented in accordance with the Agricultural Products Quality Control Act in 1999 and GI Collective Mark System under the Trademark Law in 2004. China started registering trademark certification in 1993 under the Trademark Law, and the Ministry of Agriculture promulgated GI Management System for Agricultural Products in 2007, initiating GI registration for the agricultural products. In Japan, the Trademark Law was partly revised to implement local collective trademark system(trademark indicated by both the names of a region and product). If Korea strikes FTAs with China and Japan, the international trade barrier will be lowered, contributing to the expansion of agricultural trade among Korea, China and Japan. Such trade expansion will increase a possible GI violation, which should be resolved based on individual negotiations with three countries. After concluding FTAs, the two or three nations need to establish a body to discuss trade issues through a joint Secretariat or Task Force responsible for intellectual property right. Aside from this, the three countries should reach an agreement on the eradication of unpermitted GI uses before signing FTAs by exchanging GI lists with each other to respond to any possible GI violation. The consultative body should serve as a place for the three countries to discuss GIs to be added. In preparation for the upcoming Korea-China and Korea-Japan FTAs, the names or locations for GI products to be exported and imported should be written both in the local language and English. It is the basic principle that the names or locations are written in English phonetically, if thier Chinese characters can be understood by Korea, China, and Japan. If it is impossible to mark proper nouns with Chinese characters, the most phonetically similar Chinese characters to English words will be used. The consultative body needs to gather the opinion and comments from producers of GI products in each country on the practical condition for its use, and suggest a final options at the negotiation table so that homophonic GIs can be differentiated. In addition, countries need to find ways to head off unpermitted use of intellectual property and establish a system for addressing any possible legal disputes among them by collecting, researching and analyzing cases of GI misuse found in foreign nations other than China and Japan. Moreover, regarding countermeasures to prevent GI violation, it is needed to support civil organizations in protecting international intellectual property rights by dispatching joint delegation comprising both civil and public players to ensure an effective negotiation with countries suffering from GI violation. In case of GI violation, it is required to find ways to identify the origins of a product whether it is produced at home or abroad quickly to prove the case. There is a need to develop a technology to identify GI products, collect analysis document, foster specialized personnel, and establish Overseas Intellectual Property Project Support Center(tentatively). The conclusion of FTA presents an opportunity to lower the international trade barriers and expand trade of agricultural products. GI systems of Korea and China have a strengthened security management for production methods, stardard for pesticide use, which provides a minimum condition to ensure the provision of safe agricultural products even after the trade expansion. Therefore, the trade expansion for GI products will facilitate the procedure and conditions for import clearance and quarantine for export, enabling a trade vitalization and cost reduction. It is needed to develop GI system as a platform to promote industrialization, standardization and diversification of Korean agricultural products, strengthening both domestic agricultural sector and market competitiveness on the world stage, thereby increasing export opportunity for agricultural products.

Researchers: Sung, Myung-Hwan and Han, Hye-Sung Research period: 2011. 5. - 2011. 12. E-mail address: mhsung@krei.re.kr