Requirements for defining GI boundaries

Boundaries define the location and extent of the named geographical indication’s (GI’s) “territory, region or locality” that is being claimed as the “geographical origin” of a wine or spirit under the Act.

Boundary guidelines

A New Zealand GI name can relate to any area within New Zealand. There’s no restriction to how big or small these are, or on what the boundary may be based. However, applicants must use boundaries that are consistent with the claims they make in support of their application (refer to Evidence of quality, reputation or other characteristic below). This will usually mean basing a GI boundary on existing accepted boundaries and geographical features, including (but not limited to):

• existing administrative boundaries (e.g. territorial authority boundaries or statistical geographies)
• property boundaries (e.g. cadastral boundaries or farm maps)
• rohe (tribal area)
• land use maps (e.g. maps published by CRI’s such as GNS Science, NIWA, Landcare Research, etc)
• significant topographical features (e.g. rivers, roads, coastline, hills or ridgelines)
• environmental features (e.g. geology, soils, catchments or groundwater).

Applicants should also consider the accuracy of the boundaries submitted. The boundaries should be accurate enough to support the claims made in the application and provide sufficient protection of the right. For this reason it is recommended that applicants avoid unnecessary boundary overlaps and gaps with other GIs that have been filed.

Mapping of oceans are generally not relevant for wine and spirit GIs, and it’s recommended that these areas be excluded when mapping the boundaries of a GI. However large areas of water, such as lakes and rivers, that are wholly contained in the GI area should be included.

Geographical data requirements

The online application form requires that applicants upload a data file containing the geographical coordinates that define the boundary of the proposed GI.

We recommend engaging an expert in the field of geographical information systems (GIS) to help you with this requirement.

If you prefer to create the data file yourself, you can use a GIS application, such as QGIS (free and open source).

The geographical data file must comply with the following:

If the applicant wished to vary from these requirements (e.g. AutoDesk DWG file or a KML file in WGS84) then they must first obtain approval from IPONZ.

You will need to upload a single archive format file (acceptable formats are .zip, .rar, .7z, .tar.gz, and .tar.bz2).