According to Elena Szentiványi, a directorat Henry Hughes Intellectual Property in Wellington, the transnational nature of basmati rice production proved to be the stumbling block for India’s Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) in its appeal to the New Zealand High Court in relation to its application for exclusive certification trademark rights for the rice variety.

The High Court dismissed the appeal which APEDA filed following the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand’s rejection of its application in July 2024.

Rice growers in other jurisdictions, including Pakistan, also produce basmati rice. BASMATI is registered as a geographical indication (GI) in India and Pakistan.

“The Basmati Growing Area (BGA) is a region spanning parts of India and Pakistan where the Himalayan foothills meet the Indo-Gangetic Plain. In seeking to register BASMATI as a Certification Trade Mark in New Zealand, APEDA accepted that BASMATI is a ‘transnational geographical indication.’ It was this transnational nature of basmati production which proved to be a stumbling block for the applicant,” explained Szentivanyi.

According to the High Court, “basmati rice” refers to a general type of rice, whether grown in India or somewhere else. Thus, India cannot claim exclusivity over basmati. “In the High Court, Justice David Jonathan Boldt found that the registration of BASMATI as a Certification Mark for rice from India would mean that the name BASMATI could legitimately be used on certified rice from India and uncertified basmati rice from Pakistan, and would sit side by side onsupermarket shelves,” noted Szentiványi.  “Therefore, the mark could not distinguish certified Indian basmati rice from uncertified rice originating in Pakistan. As the mark could not distinguish the goods, his honour found that the appeal must fail.”

Further, the High Court stated that consumers in New Zealand do not link basmati rice exclusively to India.

It should be noted that only GIs for wine and spirits are eligible for registration in New Zealand. 

However, registration for foreign GIs covering other products such as basmati rice may be possible with the conclusion of negotiations for the 

India-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on December 22, 2025.  Under the FTA, New Zealand is set to amend the law to allow GI registration of products from India including basmati rice, other than wines and spirits. “Recognition of India’s registered GIs would provide a back door way for India to obtain protection of BASMATI as a GI in New Zealand,” Szentiványi pointed out. The FTA now awaits signing of both parties.

Meanwhile, discussions on a possible FTA between New Zealand and Pakistan are not being contemplated.

- Espie Angelica A. de Leon