The Sri Lanka Tea Board (SLTB) reveals that it expects to obtain and commence full implementation of Geographical Indication (GI) certification for Ceylon Tea by the end of 2025.

Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, SLTB Chairperson Rajpal Obeyesekere revealed that on or around September 2024, the SLTB had submitted its application to obtain GI certification for Ceylon Tea with the assistance of the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD).

Thereafter, the European Commission (EC) had requested certain clarifications, which had been provided by the SLTB in March. Accordingly, the EC is expected to publish the report regarding the GI certification for Ceylon Tea by September.

Obeyesekere added: “At the moment, the view of the technical and legal experts is that the European Commission will give us this report within six months from March. Therefore, we are expecting it to be completed, hopefully by September. In the meantime, we have commenced the other processes that have to be initiated locally. 

“There are about seven tasks that have to be fulfilled. We will be doing this together with the French parties. We hope to complete the final documents by October. So by the time the European Commission approvals arrive, we will have completed the local process. We will then be ready for total implementation,” he said.

Accordingly, he revealed that they believed that the total implementation of the GI certification for Ceylon Tea would be possible by the end of 2025.

However, he pointed out that whenever a party applied to obtain GI certification for a product, there was a period allowed for objections. Accordingly, if any party issues an objection against the granting of GI certification to Ceylon Tea, legal steps will have to be taken to counter such objections.

The initiative taken by the SLTB to obtain GI certification for Ceylon Tea commenced with the tripartite agreement worth € 1 million that the board entered into with the French Development Agency (AFD) and CIRAD for the development of a GI for Ceylon Tea. 

The agreement, signed in December 2021, provided a € 1 million grant valid for four years and involved the provision of technical assistance from CIRAD to establish GI and the relevant certification systems for Ceylon Tea.

GI certification serves to uphold and authenticate the quality, reputation, and characteristics of a product by linking it to a specific territory through intellectual property protection, while also giving it added value in national and international markets.