The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has published the Draft Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) (Amendment) Rules, 2023, for public consultation. The Draft rules have introduced some changes to the fee structure for filing certain applications and requests under the Geographical Indications Act through a notification dated 17 October 2023.
Certain entries in the Table of First Schedule, which mention the fees in respect of filing applications, registrations, renewals, and alteration of details related to geographical indications, authorised users or any other matters under the act or the rules, have been substituted now.
It is noteworthy that there has been a drastic change in this aspect as the amendment brings about a substantial reduction in the fees for filing applications as some of these fees have been slashed to one-fifth specifically for registration and renewal of authorised users. This could possibly be for encouraging producers/ agriculturists at the grassroots level to be more active with having their GIs protected.
Some changes are as follows:
- The application for the registration of a geographical indication for goods included in one class or from a convention country amounted to Rs. 5000/-, which now has been amended to Rs 1000/- only.
- The application for the registration of an authorised user, which costed Rs 500/-, has changed to Rs 10 only.
- The renewal of an authorised user, which costed Rs 1000/-, has now changed to Rs 10 only.
- The application to the Registrar for additional protection to certain goods, which costed Rs 25,000/-, has now been amended to Rs 12,000/-.
The draft rules may be accessed here. Objections or suggestions may be addressed to the Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, Vanijya Bhawan, New Delhi- 110011 or by e-mail at anurag.saxena@nic.in.