Diffusion of Geographical Indication Law in Vietnam: “Journey To The West”

Abstract

For a long time, Vietnamese legislators and scholars did not discuss geographical indication (GI) law in depth despite its having been long established in the country. However, when Vietnam signed the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) in 2020, the tide turned: GIs now have a “VIP seat” in the treaty text. Without debating whether GIs have boosted local agriculture, this article discovers how and why the law has been transposed into Vietnamese law. To this end, we first accept Watson and Twining’s theories to presuppose legal transplant. Then, we employ five models surveyed by Morin and Gold to appraise how lawmakers adopt rules that might not always benefit the adopting country. We conclude that the EVFTA is a key influencer in disseminating the relevant policy, but that enforcement is far from successful.