UK free trade: Concern Brits could go after geographical indications for beef, cheddar

A stoush over naming rights for certain food products could be looming as negotiations for the Aus-UK free trade agreement get underway.

AUSTRALIA’S trade negotiations with Britain could hit an unexpected stumbling block, if the UK tries to claim exclusive use of food names such as ‘Scotch beef’ and ‘West Country cheddar’.

The UK has flagged it will aim to “promote effective protection of UK geographical indications” in free trade agreement negotiations with Australia.

“The Government will seek to ensure consumers are not misled about the origins or quality of a product, balanced against the need to ensure fair competition and consumer choice,” the UK said in a policy paper released ahead of discussions beginning last week.

The paper cited ‘Cornish pasty’, ‘Welsh lamb’ and ‘Scotch whisky’ as examples of geographic indicators.

GIs – names or branding used to show a product comes from a specific area – have been a point of contention in trade talks with the European Union, where names such as ‘feta’ and ‘parmigiano’ are being claimed by Greece and Italy.

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However, the EU list included UK claims (pre-Brexit) for ‘Scotch beef’, ‘West Country Beef’, ‘West Country Farmhouse Cheddar’ and ‘Stilton cheese’.

Cattle Council Australia, in a 2019 submission on GIs, said West Country and Scotch beef were descriptors currently used in Australia and had “poorly defined attributes or geographies to justify their use as GIs”.

“Australian consumers are highly likely to have difficulty differentiating between ‘scotch fillet’ and ‘scotch beef’ … for this cut of meat to be identified as a GI would result in significant disruption and confusion,” the submission read.

CCA chief executive Travis Tobin said the organisation was keen to engage constructively and in good faith on any proposal brought to the table.

Dairy Australia trade manager Charles McElhone believed GIs would be less of an issue in trade negotiations with London compared to Brussels.

“Yes, there’ll be some moves to protect some geographical terms but cheddar, as the best known example, is already loosely applied (in labelling),” he said.

Formal discussions for the first round of negotiations began last week, and will continue over the next few weeks.

Trade Minister Simon Birmingham expected the UK’s position on GIs to become clearer as negotiations continued.

“We will strive to achieve an overall agreement that is in the best interests and delivers more opportunities for Australian farmers,” Mr Birmingham told The Weekly Times.