On 15 December 2022, the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) acceded to The Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications taking the total number of countries covered by the Lisbon system to 70. Furthermore, all 17 member states of OAPI are covered by the system: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Togo.
OAPI member states will now be able to protect their geographical indications such as “Ananas Pain de Sucre du Plateau d’Allada” (Benin), “Chapeau de Saponé” (Burkina Faso), “Penja Pepper” (Cameroon), “Café Ziama Macenta” (Guinea), “Kilichi du Niger” (Niger) or “Échalote de Bandiagara” (Mali). Users of geographical indications can protect their unique products in up to 70 counties through a single procedure at WIPO.
Source: OAPI Joins Geneva Act of WIPO’s Lisbon Agreement
