79. The representative of Canada, providing some initial reactions to the joint proposal from Japan and the United States, said that it embraced certain concepts which his delegation considered critical in terms of looking at protection for geographical indications, i.e. that the system was voluntary, facilitative, simple, low-cost and did not create new substantive obligations. The proposal also recognized that there was a variety of regimes for the protection of geographical indications, and was a useful contribution to the examination of this question.
