Acceptance Criteria

The application institution for the protection of geographical indication (GI) products designated by the people's government at or above the county level, or the association or enterprise recognized by the people's government, may serve as the applicant and request the China National Intellectual Property Administration to accept the application for the protection of GI products.

Access Channels

1. Acceptance Hall of the China National Intellectual Property Administration;

2. "Geographical Indications" section on the China National Intellectual Property Administration Government Service Platform (https://www.cnipa.gov.cn/col/col116/index.html);

3. Receiving by mail.

Application Documents

Application Form for Protection of a GI Product, suggestions from the relevant local government on defining the territorial area of a GI product, descriptions of the product's name, category, territorial area, and geographical characteristics, explanations and supporting materials of the product's historical origin, reputation, production and sales, production technical specifications, relevance, and characteristic quality, technical standards and corresponding inspection reports for the GI product applying for protection, and preliminary review opinions from the provincial intellectual property administration, etc.

Processing Procedures

1. Submission of application documents. The applicant can download and fill out the Application Form for the Protection of a GI Product through the "Geographical Indications" section on the website of the China National Intellectual Property Administration Government Service Platform and submit the application documents to the provincial intellectual property administration as required.

2. Preliminary review by the provincial intellectual property administration before submission to the China National Intellectual Property Administration. The provincial intellectual property administration shall provide preliminary review opinions on the application for the protection of a GI product. For applications that are approved for submission, the relevant documents, materials, and preliminary review opinions shall be submitted to the China National Intellectual Property Administration.

(1) Online submission: The provincial intellectual property administration shall submit the documents online through the Electronic Acceptance Platform for Applications of the Protection of a GI Product (https://dlbzsl.hizhuanli.cn:9000/).

(2) In-person submission: The provincial intellectual property administration shall submit the documents in person at Window 12 of the Acceptance Hall of the China National Intellectual Property Administration.

(3) Submission by mail: The mailing address is: Acceptance Office (GI) of the China National Intellectual Property Administration, No. 6 Xitucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100088. During the product acceptance stage, both paper and electronic copies of the documents must be submitted simultaneously.