Registration of brands with the prefixes “eco” and “bio” may be complicated

Structures involved in the field of organic certification are discussing tightening the rules for registering brands with the prefixes “eco” and “bio”. Roskachestvo suggested that Rospatent register such marks only if the manufacturer has an organic certificate. The initiative will complicate the launch of new products, experts warn.

Roskachestvo, created by the government of the Russian Federation, proposed to Roskachestvo to tighten the rules for registering trademarks with the terms “eco”, “bio”, etc. Kommersant was told about this by Roskachestvo, which also deals with organic certification. The proposal was made last week at a Rospatent conference. Kommersant got acquainted with the report of the deputy head of Roskachestvo Olga Shanaeva.

Roskachestvo, in particular, advocates developing a list of documents required for submitting applications to Rospatent for registration of brands with the prefixes “eco” and “bio”, including the certificate “On organic products” in the list. This document is issued after inspection by accredited bodies, and must confirm compliance with standards, allowing the use of the inscription “organic” on the label.

According to Roskachestvo, in 2022 organic products worth 27.6 billion rubles were sold in Russia, of which almost 40% were goods without a certificate. As stated in Olga Shanaeva’s report, the Russian government has approved the idea of ​​equating products with the inscriptions “eco” and “bio” to organic, which will require obtaining a certificate for the use of such words, and such a bill is being considered by the State Duma. But, the report notes, it will be difficult to ban the use of already registered brands with the prefixes “eco” and “bio”. Rospatent did not answer Kommersant.

General Director of the Online Patent company Alina Akinshina points out that Roskachestvo is trying to “cut off” manufacturers who would unreasonably want to use the prefixes “eco” and “bio,” as well as “patent trolls” who register brands for sale. But the initiative could create additional difficulties for businesses and lengthen the time to bring products to market, she warns. According to Ms. Akinshina, large companies often register various names in parallel with product development in order to choose the most successful one after marketing research.

Rusbrand executive director Alexey Popovichev points out that the main function of Rospatent is to check the patent purity of brands, and the prefixes “eco” and “bio” usually act as part of combined trademarks and are not subject to patent protection. As Pavel Gorokhov, a partner in the intellectual property practice of Melling, Voitishkin and Partners, notes, based on the proposal of Roskachestvo, the condition for registering a brand is the presence of production and goods, which does not entirely comply with the Civil Code. In addition, he points out, the idea shifts responsibility for product quality to Rospatent, which is not the responsibility of the service. Patent attorney, managing partner of Zuikov and Partners Sergei Zuikov says that changes can be implemented by amendments to the Civil Code or acts of Rospatent.

As NielsenIQ reported, 56% of consumers in Russia are willing to overpay for the presence of “eco” and “bio” labels. As of April 2021, analysts estimated the range of such goods at 13 thousand items, including food, alcohol, baby food, pet products, etc. Deputy Chairman of the Board of Rusprodsoyuz Dmitry Leonov believes that order needs to be restored in the market for environmentally friendly products, so that the buyer is confident in the quality and method of production of goods. In most countries, the designations “eco” and “bio” are used for products produced without agrochemicals, antibiotics, etc., he points out.

The Ministry of Agriculture told Kommersant that the presence of products on the market labeled “eco” and “bio” makes it difficult to identify certified organics. Changes in legislation in this direction will protect producers of environmentally friendly products from unfair competition, they indicate.

Anatoly Kostyrev