The European Union, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama agreed on Thursday 23 June to deepen the association agreement between the parties by protecting eleven new Central American geographical indications.
The EU and its Central American partners celebrated the 10th anniversary of the signing of the EU-Central America Association Agreement on 23 June.
At the annual Association Committee, the EU and these countries decided to protect eleven new Central American geographical indications.
This is the first time that geographical indications have been added to the EU-Central America Association Agreement. This previously covered 9 geographical indications from Central America and 116 GIs from the EU.
The new protected products include five premium coffee beans from El Salvador: Café Alotepec, Café Bálsamo Quezaltepec, Café Bálsamo Quezaltepec, Café Cacahuatique, Café Chichontepec, Café Tecapa Chinamec, as well as Costa Rican Tarrazú coffee.
The list of new protected products covers other emblematic food products of El Salvador: Camarón Bahía de Jiquilisco, a shrimp from the Bay of Jiquilisco; Chaparro, a spirit drink made from fermented white corn kernels and sugar cane juice; Jocote Barón Rojo San Lorenzo, a small fruit; Loroco San Lorenzo, a vegetable; and Pupusa de Arroz de Olocuilta, a thick, filled flatbread made from rice flour, a special variant of pupusa, El Salvador’s signature national food. These eleven products will be protected in the EU against imitation and usurpation. Other Central American countries are also currently evaluating possible applications for additional geographical indication protection under the agreement.
The main EU imports from Central America are tropical fruits, nuts and spices, coffee, tea, palm and palm kernel oils, vegetable products and bulbs, roots and live plants. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)