Cambodia's famous Kampot pepper gets EU recognition

The European Commission officially registered Cambodia's Kampot pepper on its list of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indicators last month, according to a statement from the EU office here on Wednesday.

"This is the very first Geographical Indication (GI) registration for a Cambodian product in the EU, which is made up of 28 countries and has a single market for more than 500 million consumers," the statement said.

"Mrech Kampot (Kampot pepper) will benefit from a very high level of protection on the EU market, notably against imitations, and evocations of the name, avoiding non-genuine Kampot pepper which might abuse its reputation."

It said the registration as a GI product in EU provides an added value to the traditional reputation of Kampot pepper, as it will help combat counterfeiting and fake products marketed in the EU, as well as help boost the market performance of the product in the EU, in Cambodia and on other markets because the product will be able to carry the Protected Geographical Indication quality logo from now on.

It is the 20th non-EU Geographical Indication protected in the EU, joining a number of prestigious products, the statement said.

According to the Kampot Pepper Promotion Association, the total output of Kampot pepper almost doubled to 60 tons in 2015 compared to the previous year's 32 tons. Enditem