Europe invents artisanal GI: the biggest shield ever extended to the continent’s craftsmanship
For decades, Europe has protected its cheeses. Its wines. Its hams. No one can sell champagne that doesn’t come from Champagne, or Parmesan that doesn’t come from Parma. Appellations of origin, protected geographical indications – a whole legal arsenal mobilized to defend agricultural products.
Meanwhile, Solingen knives could be copied by anyone. Limoges porcelain had no European-level protection. Murano glass, forged in millennial furnaces on an island in the Venetian lagoon, was freely imitated by factories that had never set foot in Italy.
That’s over. Since December 1, 2025 [1], European Regulation 2023/2411 [2] for the first time extends geographical indications to artisanal and industrial products. And this is not a bureaucratic detail. It is potentially the largest protection mechanism for manual craftsmanship ever implemented on the continent.
What the regulation concretely states
The principle is simple and powerful. From now on, an artisanal or industrial product can obtain a protected geographical indication at the European level if three conditions are met: it is linked to a specific territory, its quality or reputation stems from this origin, and at least one stage of its production takes place in the geographical area concerned [2].
EUIPO – the European Union Intellectual Property Office, based in Alicante [3] – becomes the competent authority to examine and register these new GIs. A single application covers all 27 member states. No more national patchwork.
The products concerned are vast: natural stone, wood, jewelry, textiles, lace, cutlery, glassware, porcelain, leather goods, ceramics [2]. Everything that is neither food, wine, nor spirits – these categories already having their own protection regimes.
Protection, once obtained, is serious. Any use of the name on products not complying with the specifications becomes illegal. Imitations, evocations, even indirect allusions are prohibited. The same legal arsenal that prevents the sale of fake champagne will apply to fake Solingen, fake Limoges, fake Murano.
France, a solitary pioneer
We need to understand where we come from. France didn’t wait for Europe. As early as 2014, the Consumer Law (known as the Hamon Law) created a national system of geographical indications for industrial and artisanal products, entrusted to the INPI [4].
Twenty-six geographical indications have been approved since then, according to the official INPI database [5]. Among the best known are: siège de Liffol, granit de Bretagne, porcelaine de Limoges, pierre de Bourgogne, grenat de Perpignan, tapis et tapisserie d’Aubusson, charentaise de Charente-Périgord, absolue pays de Grasse, linge basque, couteau de Laguiole, dentelle de Calais-Caudry, bottes camarguaises, and turning and tabletterie du massif du Jura, the latest (November 2025).
It is the most advanced country in Europe on the subject. And it is also the country that pushed the most for Europe to harmonize the system.
But France was alone. Germany protected Solingen with the Solingenverordnung, a specific ordinance dating back to 1938 and still in force [6] – a legal text dedicated to a single city, a unique legal exception. Italy protected Murano glass through local provisions. The Czech Republic had its own legislation for Bohemian crystal. An unreadable patchwork, impossible to enforce beyond national borders.
The countdown to December 2, 2026
This is where things become urgent. The regulation provides for a one-year transition period. Before December 2, 2026 [1], all existing national geographical indications must be “transformed” into European GIs, or risk losing their protection.
Concretely, national bodies – the INPI in France, the DPMA in Germany [7] – must transmit the files to the EUIPO. Each file must comply with the new European requirements: detailed specifications, a standardized single document, supporting evidence.
For the 26 already approved French indications, it is an administrative formality. Heavy, certainly, but well-defined. The INPI knows its files. The specifications exist.
For other countries, it’s a completely different story. Most had no national system. No specifications. No structured producer groups. No habit of the process. Everything has to be built in one year.
Who is starting, and to protect what
The potential is dizzying. According to estimates relayed by the EUIPO, between 300 and 800 products across the Union could claim an artisanal GI [8].
France, logically, is a favorite. Limoges porcelain, already protected by a national GI since 2017, is one of the first candidates for transformation into a European GI [9]. Limoges means 250 years of porcelain, a savoir-faire that made the fortune of an entire region, and a name plundered for decades by manufacturers who had never seen Haute-Vienne.
Germany should follow with Solingen. Eight centuries of cutlery in this city in North Rhine-Westphalia [6]. Brands like Wüsthof, Zwilling, Böker, which still forge there. The Solingenverordnung already prohibited engraving “Solingen” on a knife made elsewhere. But this protection was only valid in Germany. The European GI will change that: a knife marked “Solingen” sold in Madrid or Warsaw will have to come from Solingen. Period.
Italy has the largest reserve. Murano glass, of course. But also Faenza ceramics, Carrara marble, Florentine leather goods. Dozens of crafts rooted in specific territories, often imitated, never protected at the continental level.
We also expect Donegal tweed (Ireland) or Bolesławiec pottery (Poland) [3]. Names that resonate in their respective fields, but which until now had no unified legal shield.
What this changes for artisans
The real challenge is not legal. It is economic.
A Murano glassblower who sees his pieces copied by a Chinese factory today has almost no effective recourse at the European level. With the GI, he will be able to seize counterfeits at borders, sue in any member state, and above all: he will be able to affix an official logo that distinguishes the real from the fake.
For territories, it is a lever for development. The experience of food GIs shows that labeling leads to higher selling prices, better structuring of sectors, and increased tourist appeal. Comté cheese, protected by its AOP, supports an entire economy in the Jura. Why couldn’t Limoges porcelain or Laguiole knife follow the same path?
There is also a signaling effect. In a global market where “artisanal” and “handmade” no longer mean anything – where anyone can stick these words on any product made anywhere – the GI imposes verifiable specifications, controlled by independent bodies.
The blind spots
Not everything is rosy. The regulation has its limits.
First, the minimum condition: a single stage of production in the geographical area is sufficient to claim the GI [2]. That’s little. A product, 90% of whose manufacturing takes place elsewhere, could theoretically obtain protection, provided the remaining 10% happens in the right place. The specifications for each GI will have to specify the mandatory stages, but nothing prevents lax specifications.
Then, the question of resources. The EUIPO will have to examine potentially hundreds of applications with teams that have never dealt with this type of file. Food GIs took decades to structure themselves. Here, everything must be put in place in a few months.
Finally, the risk of GI-washing. If too many products obtain the label without real requirements, the system will lose its credibility. The GI must not become a new “Made in” devoid of substance.
A turning point, nonetheless
Despite these reservations, Regulation 2023/2411 represents a shift. For the first time, Europe officially recognizes that artisanal craftsmanship deserves the same protection as local food products. That the gesture of a Murano glassblower has as much value as that of a winemaker in Champagne.
The coming months will be decisive. By December 2026, we will know which countries, which territories, which trades had the foresight and energy to submit their applications. And which others will have missed the boat.
For artisans who still produce, in their workshops, objects linked to a place and a history, this is a window. It will not remain open indefinitely.