Legislation to afford greater protection to the Scotch whisky industry has been pledged by the SNP if they are in power after the Holyrood election.

Legislation to afford greater protection to the Scotch whisky industry has been pledged by the SNP if they are in power after the Holyrood election.

The proposals have been approved by the Scotch Whisky Association Council following a consultation exercise led by the industry, which generates £2bn in exports every year and accounts for 41,000 jobs.

The SNP's spokesman on the industry, Moray MSP Richard Lochhead, said yesterday: "Scotland's party will support this vital Scottish industry. Scotch whisky needs proper legal protection to stop its products being copied and ripped off abroad."

Scotch whisky has been defined for many years and is protected in law, most recently in the Scotch Whisky Act 1988 and the Scotch Whisky Order 1990, and is also protected at EU and WTO level as a recognised "geographical indication". Mr Lochhead said traditional names for Scotch whisky, such as Speyside and Islay, are governed only by industry convention, and this has led to difficulty in protecting these terms in 200 export markets abroad.

Given the attempts by other producers to capitalise on the reputation of Scottish spirits by passing off inferior and non-genuine products as Scotch whisky, Mr Lochhead said an SNP government would work with the industry to ensure that it becomes compulsory to label whisky clearly in one of five main categories as the sales description on every bottle sold.

There would also be legal protection for the traditional regional names which would have to be wholly distilled in the region in question, and a distillery name could not be used as a brand name on any Scotch whisky which has not been wholly distilled in that distillery.