The Trade & Environment Database (TED) POLISH VODKA
Zubrowka, or bison-grass vodka, is made with rye grain and then infused with the flavor of “sweet grass” or Hierochloe odorata in Latin, from the primeval Bialowieza Forest. The vodka is 40 percent alcohol, is greenish yellow in color and has an herbal sweet taste. The vodka’s flavor is a result of the infusion of one or two kilograms of bison grass per one thousand liters of vodka. Then, a long blade of this grass is typically placed in each bottle. Hierochloe odorata contains coumarin, a naturally occurring chemical which was originally used to flavor tobacco and cakes and has been found to display various medicinal properties, such as a blood thinner. Zubrowka contains only about a dozen milligrams of coumarin per liter3 Zubrowka’s origins date back to the eighth century when someone had perhaps accidentally combined alcohol with medicinal herbs. There is still much debate as to whether it originated in present day Poland or Russia since discerning this truth is made difficult by the frequently changing borders in the region throughout history. By the 16th century there were approximately seventy-two herbal vodkas. Rye, buckwheat and oats were used to create the vodka. Its impurity was masked by different spices, herbs and roots. Zubrowka itself became popular after the Polish-Lithuanian accord in 1569 when the Polish royal court would rest at varoius hunting lodges in the Bialowieza Forest on their way to the northeast. Zubrowka first became widely distributed by the J.A. Baczewski Liquor and Liqueur Distillery in Lvov in the seventeenth century.4 |
The grass from which the vodka is made is especially liked by the European bison that roam the Bialowieza Forest. The bison, or zubr as they are called in Polish, have attracted much attention. From the 14th century onward they were some of the only remaining wild bison herds on the European continent until 1919. Efforts were made in the 1920s to introduce bison from zoos and private refuges into the Bialowieza Forest and today there are more than three hundred. The historical and cultural significance of the vodka has not surprisingly created strong reactions to protect what is considered by Poles to be a uniquely Polish product.5 |  5a | |
Zubrowka was a lucrative export product during the Communist period and is once again regaining popularity in the post-Cold War era as more and more Western and Japanese consumers develop a taste for the greenish vodka. Polish producers have suffered due to the decreasing popularity of vodka amongst younger Poles and rampant smuggling of cheaper versions of the drink from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.6 As part of Poland ‘s privatization process, and especially with forthcoming EU accession, the Polish government put up its vodka distilleries for sale. During the time when most other Polish industries were being privatized, the state owned distilleries known as Polmos, remained under state ownership due to the complex and politically sensitive nature of selling off the sector, especially to foreign companies. In 1999, Bialystok, the Zubrowka brand producer won the rights to Zubrowka and subsequently registered a patent for the name, the bottle and the trademark blade of bison grass inserted in each. In the subsequent compromise between the two sides, Agros secured exclusive export rights to Wyborowa, another popular brand of Polish vodka, manufactured by Polmos Poznan, and non-exclusive rights to Zubrowka manufactured by Polmos-Bialystok.7 Recently in April 2003 as part of its EU accession, Zubrowka, defined as vodka made with bison grass from the Bialowieza Forest, can only be produced in Poland with ingredients from Poland.8 | ||
3. Related Cases Budweis, Scotch, Grappa, Pisco and Tequila are cases which are most closely related to the case of Polish Zubrowka because they are all alcoholic drinks which were or are involved in intellectual property rights disputes centered on their cultural significance and geographic origins. These cases are evidence of the desire on the part of many producers/countries to maintain the cultural and geographical identification associated with a particular alcoholic product by pursuing exclusive rights to produce and/or label their product. The Budweis case involves a dispute between the United States and the Czech Republic over the right to use the name “Budweiser.” The Scotch case is likewise similar since the distillers in Scotland want the sole right to label their products as “Scotch” because the name pertains to a specific region. This is also the case with Zubrowka vodka, since the name means “from the bison” which roam in the Bialowieza forest in the northeastern part of Poland . The cases of Grappa, Pisco and Tequila also involve similar issues as cultural geographic indicators. The Scotch and Grappa case are especially relevant since both cases involved the petitioning of EU bodies for exclusive trademark rights, as occurred in the Zubrowka case. The Feta2 case is also very similar to the Zubrowka case, because it involves debate about the exclusive rights to label a product “feta” cheese only if that product in fact is from Greece as Poland sought to establish the same exclusivity for Zubrowka vodka. The Feta2 however, can be differentiated from the alcohol cases since it is not only the geographic origin of the product which is relevant but also the production process and the ingredients coming from a particular region make the product what it is. For further information on geographic indications and international trade, consult the GIANT webpage. 4. Author and Date: Michalina Koziol (November 2003) |
II. Legal Clusters5. Discourse and Status: Agreement and Complete 6. Forum and Scope: European Union and Region 7. Decision Breadth: Number of Parties Affected: 25 (EU members and future EU members) 8. Legal Standing: Treaty The conditions for export and import of Polish distilled alcoholic beverages such as Zubrowka are derived from several free trade agreements signed with the EU, European Free Trade Agreement, Central European Free Trade Agreement and from membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO). These agreements define the conditions of foreign trade in the distilled beverage sector and of support for its production. They set limits on customs duties, provide a timetable for reducing them, indicate permissible exceptions in regard to the imposition of quotas, and detail the circumstances and conditions in which protective clauses can be invoked.9 Favorable Uruguay Round conditions were negotiated for the Polish spirits industry in the WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture in 1995. A ban instituted on imports of spirits and unflavored vodkas introduced by Poland in 1991, was abolished by the WTO agreement on July 1, 1995 .10 Disputes over the trademark and export rights to Zubrowka vodka which began with the privatization of the Polish spirits industry in the early 1990s, were not only local disputes between the vodka producer, Polmos-Bialystok and the Agros Holdings S.A., dispute also came to involve the European Union as the Polish spirits industry sought exclusive rights to the name, production and export of Zubrowka. In 1999 Polmos-Bialystok, the Zubrowka brand producer won the rights to Zubrowka and subsequently registered a patent for the name, the bottle and the trademark blade of bison grass inserted in each. Polmos-Bialystok had the rights to distribute the product within Poland and to Russia however export rights to distribute Zubrowka in Europe had been sold earlier to Agros Holdings S.A. Eighty percent of Agros shares are owned by the French alcoholic beverage distributing company, Pernod-Ricard.11 The manufacturers of Zubrowka expressed doubts on the legality of Pernod Ricard’s export rights claiming that according to a 1971 regulation, Agros was to register the trademarks on behalf of the Polmos companies and not in behalf of itself. In July 2000 the Polish government approved a new law on industrial property rights that would award Agros’s export rights to the producers.12 Pernod-Ricard then pushed for the law to be overturned through pressure from French and European Union diplomats. The constitutional tribunal set up to review the law eventually ruled in favor of Agros. In the subsequent compromise between the two sides, Agros secured exclusive export rights to Wyborowa, another popular brand of Polish vodka, manufactured by Polmos Poznan, and non-exclusive rights to Zubrowka manufactured by Polmos-Bialystok.13 Zubrowka gained further protection as a uniquely Polish, flavored vodka produced with raw materials unique to a particular region in Poland, and not reproducible in any other country, with the accession negotiations with the European Union. A provision of the Polish Ministry of Agriculture’s bill on spirits production in 2002 banned the use of imported raw materials for the production of any type of vodka in Poland. This provision will be mirrored on the EU level once Poland is admitted into the European Union in May 2004. Already in April 2003 as part of the EU accession negotiations, the flavored vodka Zubrowka, defined as vodka made with bison grass from the Bialowieza Forest can only be produced in Poland with ingredients obtained within Poland ‘s territory. In the section pertaining to agriculture in the EU accession treaty with the other entering Central and Eastern European states, it mentions that “ “Poland may require that for the production of vodka on its territory labelled as ‘Polish Vodka/Polska Wódka’ solely specific raw materials of Polish origin are used or following traditional specifications and within the context of a quality policy pursued by Poland.” The treaty continues by adding geographical designations to various spirits including Zubrowka which is defined as an “herbal vodka from the North Podlasie Lowland aromatized with an extract of bison grass.” Therefore, a vodka can only be called by the name “Zubrowka” if it produced in Poland with ingredients obtained from a particular area in Poland.14
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III. Geographic Cluster9. Geographic Locations a. Geographic Domain: Europe |  |  14a | |||
The temperate continental cool climate sustains a mean annual temperature of 6.8 degrees Celcius and snow cover on average persists for 92 days of the year. In comparison with other European lowland forests, Bialowieza has experienced little disturbance from humans. The vast stretch of the ancient palaearctic forest contain many relic plant and animal species typical of primeval forests. It also contains some cultural heritage as a total of 184 burial sites were found from the 11th and 12th centuries in addition to several primitive bee-keeping sites. The wooded scenery and virgin forest of the area have also been mentioned in art and literature over the centures, such as with Russian landscape painter I.I. Shishkin, French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau, painter N.S. Samokish, Byelorussian poet N.A. Gusovsky and Russian revolutionary writer A.I. Gertsen and N.P. Ogarev. The park itself is comprised of a strict core zone of 4,747 hectacres and a protective zone that is 276 ha around the village. Activities such as tree felling, hunting and the use of insecticides is prohibited. Only guided visitors and researchers are permitted entrance on foot; motor vehicles are banned. The ‘Hwozna’ Protective District covers about 5,155 ha. It is composed of largely mosaic old growth forest stands and certain conifer species that are not located anywhere else in the park. 14b 10. Sub-National Factors: No 11. Type of Habitat: Snow Forests (Cool) https://web.archive.org/web/20071015100954/http://american.edu/TED/polish-vodka.htm | |||||
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