Darjeeling tea growers have won the right to protect their label "Darjeeling" from other tea players across the globe. The European Union, recognising the authenticity and uniqueness of the region's tea, has registered "Darjeeling" tea mark as a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI).
The GI status granted to Darjeeling tea implies that after five years, tea producers in the European market will not be able to market their product as "Darjeeling" if their tea has even a small quantity of leaf not "cultivated in Darjeeling". This will ensure that foreign producers cannot charge premium prices for their own tea.
Tea producers in Darjeeling have been trying to protect "Darjeeling" since the mid-1980s when the label was first introduced. "We realised that the 'Darjeeling' label was being misused when tea plantations in the region became financially sick in the 1980s. While the demand and sale prices were high, the value realisation for tea producers in the region was low. This marked the beginning of our struggle to protect and promote authentic Darjeeling tea, which was produced in the hilly regions of Darjeeling district (in West Bengal)," said Kaushik Basu, general secretary of Darjeeling Tea Association, a body of tea producers. He added that the Association, along with the Tea Board of India, applied for PGI status in 2007, as soon as the Geographical Indication law was introduced in Europe. "The GI law in Europe was introduced in the mid or late 90s. It was only in 2006 that the EU amended the law to incorporate a provision for protecting foreign brands as GI in Europe, provided that those brands were being protected as GI in their home countries," added Basu.
The tea growers of the region filed an application for Darjeeling tea as a PGI in 2007 and after battling fierce objections from tea players in France, Germany, Italy, Austria and the UK, won the rights in early 2012.
In India, Darjeeling tea was registered as a Geographical Indication in 2004, after the Geographical Indication Act 1999 came into force in September 2003. "Darjeeling Tea is the first product in India to get GI status in India," said Basu.
Prior to this, Darjeeling tea producers protected their brand through certified marks and collective trademarks. The Tea Board, in the past, has fought more than 15 cases regarding the misuse of the Darjeeling name including from Sri Lanka, the US and France.
According to a report, the board successfully managed to get a trademark application for "Darjeeling Nouveau" by the US company Republic of Tea rejected in the United States. It also won a trademark infringement case against Dusong, a French company. The company wanted to adopt the Darjeeling mark with a kettle device for its product.
Prior to the GI status in Europe, tea owners had protected Darjeeling tea with certification marks. "At places where there are no GIs, Darjeeling is protected as a mark. In some jurisdictions, our produce had certification marks and while in other jurisdictions, the tea collective mark," noted Basu.
According to the Tea Board, Darjeeling tea is protected as Certification Trade Marks in the US while the brand is a collective mark in Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, (former) Yugoslavia, Egypt and Lebanon. It is registered as an official mark in Canada and as a trademark in Japan and Russia.
Currently, close to 10 million kg of tea is produced in Darjeeling and is sold at Rs 400 per kg in the domestic market. "Germany is the biggest buyer of Darjeeling tea followed by the US, Japan, UK and other smaller countries," said Basu.
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