Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and
their International Registration (1958)

The following 17 States were party to this Agreement on January 1, 1997:

Algeria, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Congo, Cuba, Czech Republic, France, Gabon, Haiti, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Slovakia, Togo, Tunisia.

The Agreement, concluded in 1958, was revised in Stockholm in 1967, and was amended in 1979.

The Agreement is open to States party to the Paris Convention. Instruments of ratification or accession must be deposited with the Director General of WIPO.

The aim of the Agreement is to provide for the protection of appellations of origin, that is, the "geographical name of a country, region, or locality, which serves to designate a product originating therein, the quality and characteristics of which are due exclusively or essentially to the geographic environment, including natural and human factors" (Article 2). Such names are registered by the International Bureau of WIPO in Geneva upon the request of the competent authorities of the interested contracting State. The International Bureau communicates the registration to the other contracting States. Except for a contracting State which declares, within one year, that it cannot ensure the protection of a registered name, all contracting States must protect the internationally registered name as long as it continues to be protected in the country of origin.

Up to January 1, 1997, 738 appellations of origin had been registered.

The Lisbon Agreement created a Union. The Union has an Assembly. Every State member of the Union which has adhered to at least the administrative and final clauses of the Stockholm Act is a member of the Assembly.