Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs

Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs

Hague Union State, Party to 1960 Hague Act   Hague Union State, Parties to 1999 Geneva Act   covered by Regional Economic Integration Organization (REIO), not separate member   Hague Union State, also covered by REIO
Signed	6 November 1925 (The Hague Agreement) 2 June 1934 (London act) 14 July 1967 (The Hague Act/Stockholm addnl Act) 2 July 1999 (Geneva Act)
Location	The Hague
Effective	1 June 1928
Parties	77 [1]
Depositary	Switzerland (1925/1934) Netherlands (1960) WIPO (1999)

The Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs, also known as the Hague system , provides a mechanism for registering an industrial design in several countries by means of a single application, filed in one language, with one set of fees. The system is administered by WIPO.

Instruments

The Hague Agreement consists of several separate treaties, ^[2] the most important of which are: the Hague Agreement of 1925, the London Act of 2 June 1934, ^[3] the Hague Act of 28 November 1960 (amended by the Stockholm Act), ^[4] and the Geneva Act of 2 July 1999. ^[5]

The original version of the Agreement (the 1925 Hague version) is no longer applied, since all states parties signed up to subsequent instruments. The 1934 London Act formally applied between a London act state that did not sign up to the Hague and/or Geneva Act in relation with other London act states until October 2016. Since 1 January 2010, however, the application of this act had already been frozen.

Countries can become a party to the 1960 (Hague) Act, the 1999 (Geneva) Act, or both. If a country signs up to only one Act, then applicants from that country can only use the Hague system to obtain protection for their designs in other countries which are signed up to the same Act. For instance, because the European Union has only signed up to the 1999 (Geneva) Act, applicants which qualify to use the Hague system because their domicile is in the European Union can only get protection in countries which have also signed up to the 1999 Act or to both the 1999 and 1960 Acts.

Contracting Parties (member countries)

The Hague System has 81 members covering 98 countries as of January 2025. ^[6] All contracting parties to one or more of the instruments of the Hague Agreement are members of the Hague Union. A list is shown below:

Code [a]	Member	The Hague 1925	London 1934 [b]	The Hague 1960	Stockholm 1967	Geneva 1999	territorial scope
OA	OAPI					16 September 2008
AL	Albania			19 March 2007	19 March 2007	19 March 2007
AM	Armenia					13 July 2007
AZ	Azerbaijan					8 December 2010
BR	Brazil					1 August 2023
BY	Belarus					19 July 2021
BX	Belgium	27 July 1929- 1 January 1975	24 November 1939- 1 January 1975	1 August 1984 [c]	28 May 1997 [c]	18 December 2018 [c]	Territory also covered by EM
BZ	Belize			12 July 2003	12 July 2003	9 February 2019
BJ	Benin		2 November 1986- 18 October 2016	2 November 1986	2 January 1987		Territory also covered by OA
BA	Bosnia and Herzegovina					24 December 2008
BW	Botswana					5 December 2006
BN	Brunei Darussalam					24 December 2013
CA	Canada					5 November 2018
KH	Cambodia					25 February 2017
CN	China					5 May 2022	excluding Hong Kong and Macao
CI	Cote d'Ivoire		30 May 1993- 18 October 2016	30 May 1993	30 May 1993		Territory also covered by OA
HR	Croatia			12 February 2004	12 February 2004	12 April 2004	Territory also covered by EM
DK	Denmark					9 December 2008	Territory also covered by EM incl.  Greenland (2011)   Faroe Islands (2016)
--	East Germany		1949- 3 October 1990	7 May 1989- 3 October 1990	7 May 1989- 3 October 1990
EG	Egypt		1 July 1952- 18 October 2016			27 August 2004
EE	Estonia					23 December 2012	Territory also covered by EM
EM	European Union					1 January 2008
FI	Finland					1 May 2011	Territory also covered by EM
FR	France	20 October 1930	25 June 1939- 18 October 2016	1 August 1984	27 September 1975	18 March 2007	Territory also covered by EM Including all territories
GA	Gabon			18 August 2003	18 August 2003		Territory also covered by OA
DE	Germany	1 June 1928	13 June 1939- 18 October 2016	1 August 1984	27 September 1975	13 February 2010	Territory also covered by EM Stockholm and Hague act: Including "Land Berlin
GE	Georgia			1 August 2003	1 August 2003	23 December 2003
GH	Ghana					16 September 2008
GR	Greece			18 April 1997	18 April 1997	13 February 2024	Territory also covered by EM
HU	Hungary		7 April 1984- 1 February 2005	1 August 1984	7 April 1984	1 May 2004	Territory also covered by EM
IS	Iceland					23 December 2003
ID	Indonesia		27 December 1949- 3 June 2010
IL	Israel					3 January 2020
IT	Italy			13 June 1997	13 August 1987	14 March 2024	Territory also covered by EM
JM	Jamaica					10 February 2022
JP	Japan					13 May 2015
KG	Kyrgyzstan			17 March 2003	17 March 2003	23 December 2003
LV	Latvia					26 July 2005	Territory also covered by EM
LI	Liechtenstein	14 July 1933	28 January 1951- 18 October 2016	1 August 1984	27 September 1975	23 December 2003
LT	Lithuania					26 September 2008	Territory also covered by EM
BX	Luxembourg			1 August 1984 [c]	28 May 1979 [c]	18 December 2018 [c]	Territory also covered by EM
MK	North Macedonia			18 March 1997	18 March 1997	22 March 2006
ML	Mali			7 September 2006	7 September 2006		Territory also covered by OA
MU	Mauritius					6 May 2023
MX	Mexico					6 June 2020
MD	Moldova			14 March 1994	14 March 1994	23 December 2003
MC	Monaco		29 April 1956- 18 October 2016	1 August 1984	27 September 1975	9 June 2011
MN	Mongolia			12 April 1997	12 April 1997	19 January 2008
ME	Montenegro			3 June 2006	3 June 2006	5 March 2012	succession from Serbia and Montenegro
MA	Morocco	20 October 1930	21 January 1941- 18 October 2016	13 October 1999	12 October 1999
NA	Namibia					13 June 2004
BX	Netherlands	1 June 1928- 1 January 1975	5 August 1948- 1 January 1975	1 August 1984 [c]	28 June 1979 [c]	18 December 2018 [c]	Territory also covered by EM London Act incl Dutch East Indies (-1950), Suriname (-1975), Netherlands Antilles (-2010), Aruba (1986-2011), Curaçao, Sint Maarten and Caribbean Netherlands (2010-2011)
NE	Niger			20 September 2004	20 September 2004		Territory also covered by OA
KP	North Korea			27 May 1992	27 May 1992	13 September 2016
NO	Norway					17 June 2010
OM	Oman					4 March 2009
PL	Poland					2 July 2009	Territory also covered by EM
RU	Russia					28 February 2018
RO	Romania			18 July 1992	18 July 1992	23 December 2003	Territory also covered by EM
RW	Rwanda					31 August 2011
WS	Samoa					2 January 2020
SM	San Marino				26 January 2019
ST	Sao Tome and Principe					8 December 2008
SN	Senegal		30 June 1984- 18 October 2016	1 August 1984	30 June 1984		Territory also covered by OA
RS	Serbia			30 December 1993	30 December 1993	9 December 2009
SG	Singapore					17 December 2005
SI	Slovenia			13 January 1995	13 January 1995	23 December 2003	Territory also covered by EM
KR	South Korea					1 July 2014
ES	Spain	1 June 1928	2 March 1956- 18 October 2016			23 December 2003	Territory also covered by EM Hague agreement and London Act: Including Spanish Morocco (-1956) and Colonies (1947-1975)
SR	Suriname		25 November 1975- 18 October 2016	1 August 1984	23 February 1977
CH	Switzerland	1 June 1928	24 November 1939- 19 November 2010	1 August 1984	27 September 1975	23 December 2003
SY	Syria					7 May 2008
TJ	Tajikistan					21 March 2012
--	Tangier	6 March 1936- 1956	13 June 1939- 1956				now part of Morocco
TN	Tunisia	20 October 1930	4 October 1942- 18 October 2016			13 June 2012
TR	Turkey					1 January 2005
TM	Turkmenistan					16 March 2016
UA	Ukraine			28 August 2002	28 August 2002	23 December 2003
UK	United Kingdom					13 June 2018	Territory until 2021 also covered by EM. Incl. Isle of Man (2018-) and Guernsey (2021-)
US	United States					13 May 2015
VA	Vatican		29 June 1960- 4 August 2007
VN	Vietnam					30 December 2019

Notes

1. Code used in the context of the Hague Agreement
2. Application was suspended since 2013
3. The Benelux countries form a single territory for application of this act

A list of the Contracting Parties is maintained by WIPO.

Use of the system

Germany, Switzerland and the Republic of Korea were the three largest users of the Hague System in 2017

Qualification to use the Hague system

Applicants can qualify to use the Hague system on the basis of any of the following criteria:

• the applicant is a national of a Contracting Party (i.e. member country)
• the applicant is domiciled in a Contracting Party
• the applicant has a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment in a Contracting Party
• the applicant has their habitual residence in a Contracting Party (only available if the Contracting Party in question has adhered to the 1999 (Geneva) Act)

An applicant who does not qualify under one of these headings cannot use the Hague system. The Contracting Parties include not only individual countries, but also intergovernmental organisations such as the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) and the European Union. This means an applicant domiciled in an EU member country that is not a Contracting Party, such as Austria or the United Kingdom, can nevertheless use the Hague system on the basis of his or her domicile in the European Union.

Application requirements

An application may be filed in English, French, or Spanish, at the choice of the applicant. The application must contain one or more views of the designs concerned and can include up to 100 different designs provided that the designs are all in the same class of the International Classification of Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification).

The application fee is composed of three types of fees: a basic fee, a publication fee, and a designation fee for each designated Contracting Party.

Examination and registration procedure

The application is examined for formal requirements by the International Bureau of WIPO, which provides the applicant with the opportunity to correct certain irregularities in the application. Once the formal requirements have been met, it is recorded in the International Register and details are published electronically in the International Designs Bulletin on the WIPO website.

If any designated Contracting Party considers that a design which has been registered for protection in that Contracting Party does not meet its domestic criteria for registrability (e.g. it finds that the design is not novel), it must notify the International Bureau that it refuses the registration for that Contracting Party. In every Contracting Party that does not issue such a refusal, the international registration takes effect and provides the same protection as if the design(s) had been registered under the domestic law of that Contracting Party.

Publication

Standard publication of Hague applications is 12 months after filing. The applicant, however, can request either immediate publication, or delayed publication of up to 30 months. ^[7]

Duration & renewal

The duration of an international registration is five years, extendable in further five-year periods up to the maximum duration permitted by each Contracting Party. For the 1934 London Act the maximum term was 15 years.

Renewals are handled centrally by the International Bureau. The applicant pays a renewal fee and notifies the International Bureau of the countries for which the registration is to be renewed.

Naming

The agreement was concluded at the Dutch city The Hague.

References

1. Party to any of the treaties
2. Full texts of the Hague Agreement, Regulations and Administrative Instructions. WIPO
3. London Act of the Hague Agreement Archived 8 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine . WIPO
4. Hague Act of the Hague Agreement Archived 21 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine . WIPO
5. Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Archived 16 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine . WIPO
6. "Hague System – The International Design System". hague-system. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
7. Ludwig, Mary (26 January 2024). "Strategies for Using the Hague System". IPWatchdog.

External links

• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) information on the Hague Agreement
• List of the Contracting Parties (in English) in the WIPO Lex database – official website of WIPO.