WildFish renews challenge to Scottish salmon PGI after tribunal ruling casts doubt on product distinctiveness.
Campaign group WildFish has written to DEFRA urging the cancellation of the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status for Scottish salmon, citing a recent tribunal judgment suggesting there may be no meaningful difference between farmed salmon from Scotland and other producing nations.
The move follows a separate Competition Appeals Tribunal case involving alleged price-fixing between salmon producers and major UK retailers. While the case itself was unrelated to the PGI designation, the tribunal noted in passing that Scottish and Norwegian farmed salmon are effectively interchangeable in the eyes of the market.
WildFish argues this undermines the legal basis for the PGI, which is meant to apply only to products with specific characteristics tied to a geographic origin. “The law on PGIs is very clear,” the organisation said in a statement. “Generic products cannot benefit from a PGI name.”
In 2023, WildFish and fellow activist group Animal Equality lost a legal appeal against DEFRA’s decision to drop the word “farmed” from the PGI label “Scottish salmon.” A tribunal ruled at the time that identifying the product as originating from “Scotland” was sufficient and that more detailed production descriptors were not required under the scheme.
WildFish has described the PGI as a form of government-sponsored greenwashing and reiterated its commitment to challenging the designation. “We await DEFRA’s response, but rest assured, we will continue to press until this is brought to an end,” the group said.
Scottish farmed salmon has held PGI status since 2004.
