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.
The Hague Agreement consists of several separate treaties,[2] the most important of which are: the Hague Agreement of 1925,[3] the London Act of 2 June 1934,[4] the Hague Act of 28 November 1960 [5](amended by the Stockholm Act[6]), and the Geneva Act of 2 July 1999.[7]
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 member 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. The application of the 1960 Hague Act has also then been frozen on 31 December 2024.[8]
Countries can become a party to the 1999 (Geneva) Act. The 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.
Naming
The agreement was concluded at the Dutch city The Hague.
Its full name was the "Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs".
It was renamed in the 1999 Geneva Act, in Article 1, the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs.[9]
History
The origins of the Hague System date back to 1925. The Hague Agreement was revised in 1934 (London Act)[4] and again in 1960 (Hague Act)[5]. An Additional Act signed in Monaco in 1961, and a Complementary Act signed in Stockholm in 1967[6] (further amended in 1979) came to supplement what is generally referred to as The Hague Agreement.[10]
The WIPO-administered Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs once comprised three international treaties: the London Act (1934), which replaced the Hague Agreement of 1925, the Hague Act (1960) and the Geneva Act (1999)[9].
The 1934 London Act introduced simplified procedures for the international registration of industrial designs, with a uniform duration of protection of 15 years divided into two periods: the first one of five years, and a second of 10 years, It also established fundamental requirements for application filings. The London Act was meant to encourage more States to accede to the Arrangement.[10]
The 1960 Hague Act further improved the international design registration system by enabling applicants to file in English in addition to French for registration and by providing for the publication of the reproductions of designs.[10] The changes were meant to encourage more participation as the Agreement had limited success and few members. The modifications to the Hague Act 1960 were sufficiently radical that it was qualified as being ‘in fact a wholly new Treaty’.[11] Concluded in 1968, the Locarno Agreement established an international classification for industrial designs.[12]
The latest Act of the Hague Agreement is the Geneva Act (1999) – signed on 2 July 1999[9] – and came into effect on 23 December 2003.
The 1999 Geneva Act was intended to permit a significant expansion of The Hague System, allowing intergovernmental organizations such as the European Union (EU) and the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) to become members. The Act introduced more flexibilities, for example to be better adapted to the needs of countries with pre-grant substantive examination systems, especially those adhering to the common law system.[12] It also introduced the option for an applicant to defer the publication of a registration for up to 30 months, thus affording businesses additional time for strategic decision-making. Furthermore, it simplified the renewal process (e.g., streamlining administrative tasks) and extended the minimum duration of protection from 10 to 15 years.[10] The number of parties adhering to the Hague Agreement has seen considerable growth since the 1999 Geneva Act, although it has been observed that the actual use of the system in terms of filing is not impressive, though growing[12][13][14].
The need for simplification led to the freezing of the London Act in on 1 January 2010 and its termination on 18 October 2016. There after, it was no longer possible to file international applications under this Act. It was, however, possible to renew or modify an international registration recorded under this Act, up to the date of maximum duration of protection provided for – fifteen years.
The application of the 1960 Hague Act has then been frozen on 31 December 2024. Since 1 January 2025, meaning it is no longer possible to file new applications or make designations under its provisions, while leaving already active registrations or designations unaffected.[10]
The Geneva Act (1999) is in force as of 2025.
Membership
The Hague System – signed in 1925 and entered into force in 1928 – initially comprised four members: Germany, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland. Belgium soon followed in 1929, with France, Morocco and Tunisia joining in 1930. Membership grew between 1928 and 1980, increasing from the initial four to 13 members. The mid-1990s marked the beginning of a period of rapid growth, both in terms of the absolute number of members, as well as geographical distribution. Initially dominated by European nations alongside three African countries, The Hague System gained its first member from the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region when Suriname acceded in 1975, followed by the North Korea becoming the first Asian member in 1992.[10]
Members of The Hague Agreement from 1928 till 2024
The accession of OAPI and the EU, extending potential design protection across the then 17 OAPI and 28 EU member states (27 following Brexit in 2020); and second, in 2014 and 2015, with the addition of Japan, the Republic of Korea and the US, collectively representing approximately one-third of all foreign-filed design applications in 2015 significantly changed the membership. China, the country leading in industrial design activity in 2024, joined the Hague System in 2022.[10]
As of September 2025, the Hague System include 82 members covering 99 countries. In 2025, the distribution of members by region is as follows:
Europe (43.9%),
Asia (25.6%),
Africa (19.5%),
LAC (7.3%),
Northern America (2.4%) and
Oceania (1.2%)
Contracting Parties (member countries)
The Hague System[15] has 82 members covering 99 countries as of September 2025.[16]
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:
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)
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.[17]
Duration and 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.
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