In response to the industry’s claim that China enforces the labeling of’pao chai’ on kimchi-related products sold locally, the government came up with an answer saying, “When marking,’kimchi’ can also be included.”
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On the 18th, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said, “According to the China National Food Safety Standard (GB),’Kimchi’ and’KIMCHI’ can be labeled together with Pao Chai.” This is an explanation after some Korean companies that sell kimchi-related products in China recently argued that “the Chinese government does not recognize the expression kimchi when registering a trademark of food containing some kimchi.”
The Chinese GB basically stipulates that foods are labeled in Chinese characters, but foreign languages can also be written. In the case of kimchi, the Chinese authorities are forcing the expression of pao cha, but it is said that there is no problem with using’Kimchi’ or’KIMCHI’ together.
In addition, the government is promoting the registration of the’national name geographic indication system’ for kimchi in order to resolve the controversy over the labeling of kimchi and to prevent illegal activities in which foreign kimchi is converted to Korean in foreign markets. The geographical indication system is a system in which the name of the country of origin is recognized as a trademark right when the uniqueness of a specific product is caused by the country of origin, such as’Yeosu Dolsan Gat Kimchi’ and’Boseong Green Tea’.
Until now, the geographical indication system was applied only to domestic regions, but the government plans to apply the geographical indication system at the national level. However, the revision of the’Enforcement Decree of the Agricultural and Fishery Products Quality Control Act’ to establish the legal basis for the country’s geographical indication system is still in progress. An official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food said, “If the main ingredients of kimchi are domestically produced and processed in Korea, registration of the geographical indication system of the country becomes possible.” We plan to converge.”
Sejong = Reporter Seongbin Lim [email protected]
