– Law on Geographical Indications, effective as of July 1, 2010.

Applicant: only a group shall be entitled to submit an application for registration of a geographical indication, designation of origin or guaranteed traditional product which carries out activities in production of goods mentioned in the application. One physical or legal person may file an application, if, as of the date of submitting the application, he is the only person implementing the production activity of the products stated in the application. Other interested persons may join the group.

Foreigners: enjoy the same rights as nationals; must elect a registered local agent.

Registrability: as a geographical indication shall be protected the name of a territory, settlement, a certain area or, in exceptional cases, a country, which is used to describe the product: (1) that has originated from that territory, settlement, certain area or country; (2) specific quality, reputation or other qualities of which are essentially conditioned by its geographical origin; (3) that has been produced and/or processed and/or prepared in that particular geographical location. As a designation of origin shall be protected the name of a territory or a settlement, certain area or, in exceptional cases, the geographical name of the country which is used to describe the product: (1) that has originated from that territory, settlement, certain area or country; (2) specific quality, reputation or other qualities of which are essentially or exclusively conditioned by those geographical conditions, including natural and human factors; and (3) which has been produced, processed and prepared in that particular geographical location.

Territory covered: the Republic of Armenia.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. Power of attorney, signed by director/president/CEO of the company and certified with the company seal/stamp (if available). If signed by another authorized person, his/her authority must be notarized;
2. The application for registration of the geographical indication or designation of origin shall contain:
– technical requirements envisaged by paragraph 2 of Article 11 of this Law, which should be verified and approved by competent State body;
– single document, which contains principal elements of technical requirements, the name for which the registration is sought, description of product and, where necessary, special rules applied to the packaging or labelling of the product, brief description of the boundaries of mentioned geographical zone, the description of relation between the product and geographical environment or geographical origin, including, where necessary, special elements of the description of the product or its production method, that come to establish that relation;
3. For wines applications for protection of names as designations of origin or geographical indications shall include a single document containing:
– the name to be protected;
– the main elements of technical characteristics;
– the principal analytical and organoleptic characteristics of the wine and in the case of designation of origin, as well as an evaluation of its organoleptic characteristics;
– where applicable, the specific oenological practices used to make the wine(s) as well as the relevant peculiarities on making the wine(s);
– the demarcation of the geographical area concerned;
– the maximum yields per hectare;
– an indication of the wine grape variety or varieties the wine(s) is obtained from;
4. For spirit drinks the single document for registration of geographical indication shall include:
– the name and category of the spirit drink including the geographical indication;
– the main elements of technical characteristics;
– a description of the spirit drink including the principal physical, chemical and/or organoleptic characteristics of the product, as well as the specific characteristics of the spirit drink as compared to the relevant category;
– the definition of the geographical area concerned;
– a description of the method for obtaining the spirit drink and, if appropriate, the authentic and unvarying local methods;
– the details bearing out the link with the geographical environment or the geographical origin;
– any requirements laid down by the country concerned and/or national and/or regional legislation;
– any supplement to the geographical indication and/or any specific labelling rule, according to the relevant technical file;
5. The application of guaranteed traditional product shall contain:
– the name and location (address) of the applicant;
– technical requirements which should be verified and approved by the competent State body;
– the names, location (addresses) and precise functions of the bodies competent to carry out the supervision of technical requirements;
– documents, proving the specific and traditional nature of the product.

Preliminary examination: conformity with formal requirements within a month, after which decision on publication of the application and carrying out substantive examination is issued.

Publication of the application, third party remarks and oppositions: the State Authorized Body shall, on the basis of the decisions on carrying out substantive examination, within a period of one month following the day of the decision, publish the application in the “Industrial Property” Official Bulletin. Any person may, within a period of six months, present a written remark to the State Authorized Body against the registration of the claimed geographical indication, designation of origin or guaranteed traditional product.

Substantive examination: during the examination the State Authorized Body shall verify the existence of grounds for refusal and the objections presented against the registration. Based on the results of the examination the State Authorized Body shall make the decision on registration or refusal of application.

Objection against the Patent Office decision: in case of disagreement with the examination decision, the applicant may file an appeal with the Board of Appeal within two months. The Appeal Board decision may be opposed in the appropriate court procedure.

Publication: the data on registration of geographical indication or designation of origin or guaranteed traditional product, as well as the data on the persons being granted the right to use the geographical indication or designation of origin shall be published in the “Industrial Property” Official Bulletin. The State Authorized Body shall, within one month, after the day of receiving the mentioned payment receipt, handover the applicant a certificate on the right to use the geographical indication or designation of origin.

Duration: the protection of geographical indication or designation of origin or guaranteed traditional product shall be in force from the year of filing the application with the State Authorized Body, without limitation of term. The right to use the protected geographical indication or designation of origin shall be entitled for a period of ten years, extendible for further ten-year periods, provided the technical requirements of that particular product are met.