Regional workshop on accession to the Banjul Protocol

The Banjul Protocol provides a centralised trade mark registration procedure. Applications for trade mark registrations may be submitted either to the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) or the Intellectual Property office of a Member State. Trade mark applications submitted to ARIPO are examined by ARIPO examiners and are granted regionally. They are effective in the designated Member States and have the enforceability of national law.

This activity will build upon the Banjul Protocol accession promotional workshop of the Annual Work Plan 1, but with regional adaptations to make the activity more effective. The workshop will be conducted annually in one of the proposed regions (East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa). This year, it will take place in Mauritius, a country in Southern Africa.

The workshop’s objective is to create awareness and interest for the African countries that are not yet contracting parties to the Banjul Protocol by showcasing the opportunities offered by the Protocol. These opportunities include:

• cost effectiveness resulting from having a single application to secure registered rights in multiple jurisdictions;

• the ease of administration through a streamlined registration procedure that involves less financial and human resources than national registration procedures;

• reduced lapsing of registration time frames.

These are possible because the application is processed in a standardised time frame in all countries where trade mark rights are applied or registered in a single application.