<Tr> <Th> Date commenced </Th> <Td> 15 September 2003 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Status: In force </Td> </Tr> <P> The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 (GI Act) is a sui generis Act of the Parliament of India for protection of geographical indications in India . India, as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), enacted the Act to comply with the Agreement on Trade - Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights . The GI tag ensures that none other than those registered as authorised users (or at least those residing inside the geographic territory) are allowed to use the popular product name . Darjeeling tea became the first GI tagged product in India, in 2004--05, since then 323 goods had been added to the list as of August 2018 . </P> <P> According to section 2 (1) (e) of the Act, Geographical indication has been defined as "an indication which identifies such goods as agricultural goods, natural goods or manufactured goods as originating, or manufactured in the territory of a country, or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of such goods is essentially attributable to its geographical origin and in case where such goods are manufactured goods one of the activities of either the production or of processing or preparation of the goods concerned takes place in such territory, region or locality, as the case may be ." </P>

India enacted the geographical indications of goods act 1999 in order to comply with