The OIV is an intergovernmental organisation of scientific and technical character created in 1924. We currently count 48 members states, which are responsible for more than 80% of worldwide production of wine and for over 65% of total world wine consumption.

Wine sector has been at the origin of the development of the systems of recognition and protection of appellations of origin and geographical indications, and contributed considerably in their international acceptance and promotion.

We would like to present a historical overview of debates that took place in the OIV since its creation in 1924. We will present the evolution of the definitions, recommendations regarding protection and recognition, the link with other intergovernmental debates on protection of intellectual property.

The OIV is ins a constant process of revision of these two main concepts. While being a major actor in their development and promotion, our organisation needs to keep concepts agreed for wine sector in line with main international agreements. We have recentrly adopted (2021) new updated definitions of a Geographical Indication and an Appellation of Origin in th vine and wine sector. The new definitions are based on the TRIPS agreement and on the Geneva act of the Lisbon agreement and reply to major concerns of our sector.

Finally, we will illustrate the evolution of the link to the geographical origin of a product over the last decades: from an appellation of origin, to international definition of “terroir” and finally, the role of the link to the place of elaboration in the overall sustainability of production systems.