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This note considers indigenous 'authenticity label' and
'origin mark' schemes in the US and other nations.
It covers -
the US
In the US the 1990 Indian Arts & Crafts Act
(IACA),
aimed at protecting Indigenous cultural expression, has
had an uneven reception.
The Act's administrators, the Indian Arts & Crafts
Board, characterise it as
a
truth-in-advertising law that provides criminal and
civil penalties for marketing products as "Indian-made"
when such products are not made by Indians, as defined
by the Act.
Its
origins and outcomes - not always as intended - are discussed
in The Arbitrary Indian: The Indian Arts & Crafts
Act of 1990 (Tulsa: Uni of Oklahoma Press 1997) by
Gail Sheffield.
The 1999 US Patent & Trademark Office report (PDF)
on Official Insignia of Native American Tribes
takes a dim view of the need for special protection for
some cultural expression.
Changes to US Customs
law in 1989 require that 'Indian-style' crafts and jewelry
imported into the United States must be identified by
an 'indelible' country-of-origin stamp or other mark.
The expectation was that the legislation would force importers
and manufacturers to permanently mark the items, thereby
alerting first buyers and consumers buying second-hand
goods that the work was not produced by a member of the
US First Nations. In practice the requirement has been
subverted by importers/manufacturers, who quickly discovered
that Customs officials were satisfied by a tag on each
item. Unscrupulous wholesalers and retailers accordingly
removed the tag, selling the works as authentic American
Indian art artefacts.
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Ketupa