Sri Lanka to Bid for Exclusive Rights on ‘Ceylon Tea’

By Phillip Hogan
December 30th, 2009

Posted in Intl Tea Trade, Tea in the News

Sri Lanka looks set to secure a claim, under the current World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), for Geographical Indicators (GI) to protect the prestigious wording: ‘Ceylon Tea’.

The country already has existing rights, under intellectual property rights laws, that protects the phrase ‘Pure Ceylon Tea’ and the iconic lion logo from unauthorised use. The existing law currently covers 60 countries but has to be registered in each country before copyright is assured.

The appeal of the GI system, if Sri Lanka’s bid is successful, is that any product registered under GI status immediately benefits from copyright protection in all of the WTO’S 150 member countries.

The benefits are self-evident, demonstrated by products such as Melton Mowbray Pork Pies and wines from the Champagne region of France.

Seven key production regions are included in Sri Lanka’s bid for GI status; Nuwara Eliya, Dimbula, Uva, Udapusellawa, Kandy, Ruhuna and Sabaragamuwa.

With production costs at an all time high, Sri Lanka’s bid is aimed at combating the current trend of price-cutting.

Price competition is severely damaging the countries tea industry which cannot compete with the other dominant tea producers in the global trade.

Sri Lanka produces very high quality tea and this comes at a cost. The cost of production of tea in Sri Lanka is roughly US$ 1.75 per kilogram, compared with India’s US$ 1.25 per kilogram, Kenya’s US$ 1.00 per kilogram and Vietnam’s much lower cost of US$ 0.75 per kilogram.

Posted in ceylon tea , TRIPS , WTO