Folks, this news is sure to get you in high spirits. Scotch Whisky recently got GI registration in all the 17 countries that are members of the African Organization of Intellectual Property (OAPI), which includes Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Republic of Congo, Senegal and Togo. Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), the industry trade body, was responsible for the application. The status was officially granted during a ceremony held at the African Intellectual Property Organisation (OAPI) in Yaoundé and was presided over by the General Manager of OAPI, Dr. Paulin EDOU EDOU.
Scotch Whisky, has been produced in Scotland for more than 500 years and has been exported for more than 200 years.
The Wine & Spirit Brand Association, started in 1912 changed its name to the Whisky Association in 1917 which in turn became the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) in 1940. Scotch Whisky Association has always been proactive in protecting the authenticity of Scotch Whisky and ensuring that the consumers do not purchase counterfeit Scotch Whisky.
The GI registration supports the integrity of Scotch Whisky as a product made in Scotland according to the Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009.
According to a, UK Scotch Whisky technical file in support of the Scotch whisky GI, “Scotch whisky means a whisky produced in Scotland that has been distilled in Scotland from water and malted barley to which only whole grains of other cereals may be added all of which have been processed at that distillery into a mash, converted into a fermentable substrate only by endogenous enzyme systems and fermented by the addition of yeast. It has to be distilled at an alcoholic strength by volume of less than 94.8%, its production that has been matured only in oak casks of a capacity not exceeding 700 litres, that has been matured only in Scotland for a period of not less than three years, maintains the colour of plain caramel that has a minimum alcoholic strength by volume of 40%.”
In 2009 the SWA had applied to obtain GI status for Scotch Whisky in India. It received the GI tag in 2011. Scotch Whisky is the first spirit drink to be protected as a GI in OAPI and in India.
Authored by Sambhabi Patnaik
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