On May 11, 2023, Deputy Head of Rospatent Victoria Galkovskaya deposited with Deputy Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Binying Wang the instrument of accession of the Russian Federation to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin (AOs) and Geographical Indications (GIs). The ceremony took place at the WIPO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

With accession to the Lisbon System, applicants will have a new legal instrument that simplifies the procedure for registering AOs and GIs in more than 70 countries. To register an AO or GI abroad, an applicant would have to file one application, pay one set of fees and indicate the chosen Member States.

The country’s accession to the System opens up new opportunities for boosting the economic development of the Russian regions and supporting local producers and increases the level of protection of regional brands. The Lisbon System guarantees the reliable protection of AOs and GIs on the territories of the Contracting Parties, which was one of the most important reasons for the Russian Federation to join the System.

In July 2022 Russia introduced a new object for intellectual property rights protection into the national law, that is a GI, that turned out to be in high demand among Russian applicants. This was one of the country’s steps towards joining the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement.

"The Russian Federation is an active participant in the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks and the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs. With the accession to the Lisbon System, the Russian Federation becomes a member of all international registration systems administered by WIPO", said Ms. Galkovskaya at the ceremony.

Rospatent will start accepting applications for international registration of AOs and GIs under the Lisbon System three months after the deposit of the instrument of accession.