Historic Registration: Madd de Casamance and Penja Pepper Enter the Lisbon System

On 20 August 2026, Senegal’s Madd from Casamance and Cameroon’s Penja Pepper received their international registration certificates at the headquarters of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva. The registrations mark an important first for the OAPI region, as the two products are the first geographical indications originating from the OAPI area to be internationally registered under the Lisbon System.

The development illustrates the growing importance of geographical indications as a tool for protecting and commercially leveraging products whose qualities and reputation are intrinsically linked to their place of origin. Both products had already secured protection at national and OAPI level, while Penja Pepper had also received recognition from the European Commission. Their international registration now provides an additional layer of protection in participating jurisdictions, helping to safeguard the use of their geographical names in international trade.

The milestone also demonstrates the practical significance of OAPI’s accession to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement in December 2022, following almost two decades of efforts to advance the international protection of geographical indications in the region. Beyond these two products, the registrations could pave the way for other OAPI geographical indications to seek international protection and strengthen the global commercial positioning of Africa’s distinctive regional products.