What is a Geographical Indication?
The Geographical Indication is an official stamp for the Identification of the Quality and the Origin (SIQO) delivered by the State and supervised by the INPI (National Institute of Industrial Property). The GI is used to designate a product which carries the name of its territory of origin and which possesses a quality and notoriety linked to this territory. It represents the highest recognition of the State.
The article L721-2 of the code of intellectual property defines the Geographical Indication (GI) : "A geographical indication constitutes the designation of a geographical zone or a predetermined location defining a product, other than agricultural, forestry, food processing or seafood, which originates there and which possesses a defined quality, a reputation or other characteristics which can be contributed essentially to this geographical origin. The production or transformation conditions of this product, such as cutting to size, extraction or fabrication, respect a code of practice certified and established by a decision applied under article L. 411-4".
The concept of a Protected Geographical Indication (IGP) was previously reserved for viticultural and agricultural products. Law N°2014-344, regarding consumer goods of 17 March 2014, extended the dispositive to industrial and artisanal products. The decree was published on 8 March 2016.
Pierre de Bourgogne Geographical Indication
It is based on 3 main criteria:
The specific qualities of limestone extracted in the geographical zone.
The reputation of Burgundy limestone
the know-how of the professionals of the sector (quarrymen, carvers, roof-tilers, fixers, sculptors and stone masons). La Pierre de Bourgogne is a limestone from the secondary Jurassic period, extracted in quarries located in the geographical area (the historical Burgundy region consisting of the departments of the Côte d’Or (21), the Nièvre (58), the Saône-et-Loire (71) and the Yonne (89)
This description covers:
Lave (roofing tiles) and walling stone, blocks, slabs, semi-finished products (sawn 6 sides) and finished products produced by removing material (100% pierre de Bourgogne). Excluded are crushed stone and composite products "reconstituted stone", concrete and other cast items.
The extraction, transformation, shaping and finishing must be entirely undertaken in the designated geographical zone and by a qualified operator. Adjustments made during on site fixing do not result in the loss of the GI label Pierre de Bourgogne.
Why create the GI Pierre de Bourgogne ?
This reputation has attracted envy and has given rise to the production of imitations or an abusive use of the label "Pierre de Bourgogne" for products which are not genuine. The Geographic Indication allows the sector to protect itself, to perpetuate the know-how and the local industrial tissue and to guarantee the origin of Burgundy limestone.
With its natural and local richness, renowned and appreciated throughout the world, Burgundy limestone comes in more than 70 varieties of stone extracted from 5 principal limestone basins spread out in all the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region. It can be found on facades of buildings in New York, the Middle East, in Asia, and closer to home in numerous buildings and historical monuments, including the Louvre and the Orsay museum just to mention a few. One just has to lower or raise one’s head to perceive and contemplate it. The Eiffel Tower, the most visited monument in the world has its origins in Burgundy. In fact its creator Gustave Eiffel was born and educated in Dijon, and the foundations of the Dame de Fer are made of Massangis stone, a variety of Burgundy limestone extracted in the Tonnerrois basin in northern Burgundy.