The College of associate members is a consultative body composed of organisations that have signed a partnership agreement with AREPO and wish to sit in it: thematic, territorial and scientific organisation, networks, etc.
AREPO associate members are currently the following:
To find out more about our associate members and our partnership agreements, take a look below!
Created on 22 January 2015, the French Association of Industrial and Artisanal Geographical Indications (AFIGIA) was formed a few months after the adoption of the French law known as “Hamon” which introduced GIs for artisanal products. This professional federation brings together traditional French products of national and international renown, strongly anchored economically in their territories, concerned with maintaining and developing employment in their respective areas, such as “Granit de Bretagne” (stone); “Sièges de Liffol” (chairs and armchairs); natural stones from Nouvelle-Aquitaine including “Pierre d’Arudy” and “Pierre de Dordogne”; “Porcelaine de Limoges” (porcelain); “Linge Basque” (linen); “Tapisserie d’Aubusson” (tapestry); “Charentaises de Charente-Périgord” (slippers); “Couteau de Laguiole” (knife); and “Horlogerie franc-comtoise” (horology), to mention only those. To date, 92% of the GIs approved by the INPI are members of the Association. These GI sectors regularly exchange on various topics (protection, GI controls, etc.), allowing for an exhaustive and expert knowledge of the system.
AFIGIA is today the only national structure representing GIs for manufactured products. It is recognised as such by several French, European and international institutions. It recently obtained observer status at WIPO.
Non-agricultural GIs are real assets for our territories and allow the international promotion of the excellence of our knowledge and know-how and our products. These products and sectors deserve to be protected at the European level, in the same way as agricultural and agri-food products.
In order to carry out its tasks of defending, developing and promoting geographical indications and other European quality systems, AREPO – its member regions and their producers – relies on political considerations backed up by technical and scientific data.
AFIGIA is a competent, recognised and representative actor of producers and producer organisations of quality products and origin under EU quality schemes, specifically on the thematic of industrial and artisanal GIs.
The cooperation between AREPO and AFIGIA aims to:
Euro Foie Gras is the European Federation of Foie Gras. Created in 2008 in Strasbourg, it includes the federations of Belgium, Bulgaria, Spain, France and Hungary. It therefore brings together all the producer countries of the European Union. Euro Foie Gras represents all the links in the production chain (breeders, breeders, producers, processors and abattoirs).
Euro Foie Gras and AREPO are both committed to the defence and promotion of agricultural and food products that come from European regions and the know-how of the men and women of these territories. Euro Foie Gras and AREPO are committed to the defence of the agricultural, cultural and food heritage of rural societies and more broadly of the European Union.
Today, these products are confronted with numerous challenges linked to environmental, societal, economic and political developments.
This is why Euro Foie Gras and AREPO wished to sign this cooperation charter which will allow Euro Foie Gras to become an associate member of AREPO and AREPO to call on Euro Foie Gras’ expertise.
In carrying out its missions to defend, develop and promote geographical indications and other European quality systems, AREPO – its member regions and their producers – relies on political considerations backed up by technical and scientific data.
Euro Foie Gras is a competent, recognised and representative actor of producers and producer organisations of quality and origin products under European quality schemes.
The cooperation between AREPO and Euro Foie Gras aims to
The ERG SYAL gathers together a great number of research institutions from different European countries with the following missions:
In the framework of the DG AGRI Week of Stakeholders, AREPO organized in collaboration with ERG SYAL a high-level seminar on GIs: “Innovating and Organising Research, Education and Training for Sustainable GIs”, in the EU Pavilion at Expo. The seminar underlined the need for support and funding at EU level on research, education and training on GIs.
AREPO continued to work in collaboration with ERG SYAL to capitalise on the seminar’s conclusions. As a result, in December 2015, AREPO presented to the European Commission a position paper as a contribution to the consultation process for the definition of the EU long-term strategy for agricultural research and innovation. This document carries AREPO and ERG SYAL logo, accompanied by the text line “in collaboration with”.
It aims at assuring that the research needs and issues related to Local agro-food systems and GIs will be taken into account and included, highlighting their potential for a sustainable rural development. It focuses on the primary sector and its links with the food chain and rural development. Furthermore, it establishes relevant links to thebioeconomy strategy. It argues that Localized agro-food systems and quality and origin products can contribute to sustainable bioeconomy, thanks to their innovation potential in the governance of the food system at local/regional level and in the sustainable use of resources.
A second outcome concerns the development and strengthening of working relations between AREPO and ERG SYAL.
In order to achieve its goals concerning defense, development and promotion of GIs and other EU quality systems, AREPO, together with its member regions and its producers, bases its actions on political considerations supported by scientific and technical data.
The ERG SYAL, thanks to its member institutions, is one of the leading providers of scientific data and research specialised on quality systems.
The cooperation between AREPO and ERG SYAL aims at:
ERPA is a European association created to represent professional rural poultry producers in the EU. It aims to preserve rural poultry production and its genetic diversity in Europe, in particular by having its particularities recognised in European regulations. Rural poultry represents a wide range of production, including GI, Label Rouge and organic production.
ERPA and AREPO are both committed to the defence and promotion of agricultural and food products that come from European regions and the know-how of the men and women of these territories. ERPA and AREPO are committed to the defence of the agricultural, cultural and food heritage of rural societies and more broadly of the European Union.
Today, these products are confronted with numerous challenges linked to environmental, societal, economic and political developments.
This is why ERPA and AREPO wished to sign this cooperation charter which will allow ERPA to become an associate member of AREPO and AREPO to request ERPA’s expertise.
In carrying out its tasks of defending, developing and promoting geographical indications and other European quality systems, AREPO – its member regions and their producers – relies on political considerations backed up by technical and scientific data. ERPA is a competent, recognised and representative actor of producers and producer organisations of quality products and origin under EU quality schemes.
The cooperation between AREPO and ERPA aims to:
FedeLIS aims to federate all the GDOs in France that manage a Label Rouge, GI or TSG specification. FedeLIS thus represents 95% of Label Rouge and about 60 PGI. FedeLIS’ mission is to ensure the defence and representation of Red Labels, Geographical Indications (PGIs, and AOC/AOPs other than wines and dairy products) and TSGs (Traditional Specialities Guaranteed) with the French and European public authorities, the INAO and professional organisations. It is a forum for discussion, reflection and consultation on quality and origin policy. It provides information to its members on all cross-cutting issues. FedeLIS is also responsible for promoting Label Rouge, GI and TSG products.
FedeLIS and AREPO are both committed to the defence and promotion of agricultural and food products that come from European regions and the know-how of the men and women of these territories, and in particular products with origin identification signs. FedeLIS and AREPO are committed to the defence of the agricultural, cultural and food heritage of rural societies and more broadly of the European Union.
Today, these products are confronted with numerous challenges linked to environmental, societal, economic and political developments.
This is why FedeLIS and AREPO wished to sign this cooperation charter which will allow FedeLIS to become an associate member of AREPO and AREPO to request FedeLIS’ expertise.
In carrying out its tasks of defending, developing and promoting geographical indications and other European quality systems, AREPO – its member regions and their producers – relies on political considerations backed up by technical and scientific data.
FedeLIS is a competent, recognised and representative actor of producers and producer organisations of quality products and origin under EU quality schemes.
The cooperation between AREPO and FedeLIS aims to:
In December 2019, the 11 French meat sectors recognised as Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) and/or Appellation d’Origine Protégée (AOP) noted that they shared common values through these AOCs/AOPs which unite them around the following elements:
This is why, considering that these common values lead them to share the interest of defending and promoting them, the ODG (Organismes de Défense et de Gestion) of the founding AOC/AOP decided to federate by creating the FEVAO in order to:
Given the European nature of AREPO, coupled with the fact that it is territorially based and brings together regions which themselves have products and producers under the SIQO, the points of convergence with the FEVAO’s objectives are numerous and coherent with regard to the reasons which led the PDO meats to join forces.
Thus, AREPO’s missions are in line with those of the FEVAO and those that PDO meats believe they fulfil for their territories, namely:
They are also in line with the issues identified by the FEVAO in the field of the defence of PDO meats, at French and European level, namely:
On the basis of these elements of convergence of interests and motivations, AREPO and FEVAO consider that the concretisation of a partnership under the status of associate member is judicious.
In carrying out its tasks of defending, developing and promoting GIs and other EU quality systems, AREPO – its member regions and their producers – relies on political considerations backed up by technical and scientific data.
FEVAO is a competent, recognised and representative actor of producers and producer organisations of quality products and origin under European quality schemes.
The cooperation between AREPO and FEVAO aims to:
University of Parma is a State University. As such, it is self-governing and has administrative, organisational, and accountancy autonomy, while providing tailored services for students. Its centuries-old history dates back to 13th March 962, when Emperor Ottonian I conferred on Uberto, the Bishop of Parma, the initiation of the University in the ‘Diploma’: this document, which granted the Bishop the power to order and elect legal leaders (‘eligere et ordinare notarios’), was the foundation for an educational institution that would last centuries later, and is still preserved in the Bishop’s Archives in Parma today.
The University holds 9 Departments, 39 First Cycle Degree Courses, 6 Single Cycle Degree Courses, 41 Second Cycle Degree Courses (5 of which entirely held in English), as well as many Postgraduate schools, Teacher Training courses, several Master Programmes and PhDs.
The University of Parma offers 3 undergraduate and 3 Master’s degree courses in Food Science and Management, directly related to the topic of the Geographical Indications. Consult our Map of formative offers to know more.
Mission of University of Parma is to promote knowledge creation, transfer and progress to meet the increasing demand of advanced education and research in our society.
In particular, UniPR supports GIs production by means activity of research and knowledge transfer for the GIs Consortia of Regione Emilia Romagna.
In order to achieve its goals concerning defense, development and promotion of GIs and other EU quality systems, AREPO, together with its member regions and its producers, bases its actions on political considerations supported by scientific and technical data.
In the framework of the DG AGRI Week of Stakeholders in Expo Milan 2015, AREPO organised in collaboration with the European Research Group SYAL a high-level seminar on Geographical Indications: “Innovating and Organising Research, Education and Training for Sustainable GIs”, in the EU Pavilion. The seminar underlined the need for support and funding at EU level on research, education and training on GIs.
In 2017, in order to work more effectively on these issues, AREPO decided to set up a scientific committee composed of research centres/universities from AREPO regions. This body should work in constant interaction with AREPO member regions.
University of Parma is one of the leading providers of scientific data and research specialised on quality systems. Furthermore, the University of Parma offers Bachelors, Master of Science and PhD programs focusing on GIs and Food Quality Products.
The cooperation between AREPO and the University of Parma aims at:
