President Vladimir Putin signed on 3 April 2017 the Federal Law on ratification of the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs, accepted by the State Duma and the Federation Council. The law will come into force within 180 days from its publication. The publication date was 4 April 2017.

At the moment we are not able to say when international design registration applications designating Russia can be filed for the first time. This depends on when Russia will deposit the instrument of accession to the WIPO. The accession will be effective after three months from it.

The Hague System is administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The applicant can obtain several national design registrations/design patents in the countries which are members of the Hague System by filing a single application through the WIPO.

At the moment more than 60 states and intergovernmental organizations are members of the Hague System, e.g. the European Union, the United States of America, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, Norway and the African Intellectual Property Organization.

For further information, please contact Mrs Irmeli Nokkanen, European Design Attorney.