Madrid Agreement and Protocol Concerning the International Registration of Marks

Entry into force of the 2020 version of the eleventh edition of the Nice Classification

1. A new version of the eleventh edition of the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (“Nice Classification”) will enter into force on January 1, 2020. This new version is available on the website of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), at the following address: https://www.wipo.int/classifications/nice/en/.

2. The 2020 version of the eleventh edition of the Nice Classification includes a number of changes with regard to the previous version. The purpose of the present notice is to inform the Offices of the Contracting Parties of the Madrid Union, as well as applicants and holders, of the practice that is followed by the International Bureau of WIPO for the examination of applications for international registration that are presented during the transition to the new version of the eleventh edition of the Nice Classification.

3. The International Bureau of WIPO will apply the 2020 version of the eleventh edition of the Nice Classification to:

- any application for international registration that is received by the Office of origin on or after January 1, 2020;

- any application for international registration that is received by the International Bureau of WIPO on or after January 1, 2020, when the said application is received by the International Bureau of WIPO after the two-month time limit referred to in Article 3(4) of the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks.

4. In accordance with the recommendation of the Committee of Experts of the Nice Union, made at its twenty-ninth session in May 2019, and for all international registrations for which the list of goods and services has been classified according to the 2020 version of the eleventh edition of the Nice Classification, the International Bureau of WIPO will insert the abbreviation “NCL(11-2020)” next to the list of goods and services in the notifications sent to designated Contracting Parties, registration certificates and publications.

5. In conformity with its standing practice, the International Bureau of WIPO will not reclassify, in accordance with the 2020 version of the eleventh edition of the Nice Classification, the list of goods and services in international registrations with a date earlier than January 1, 2020.

6. Finally, the Madrid Goods & Services Manager (available at: https://webaccess.wipo.int/mgs/) will be updated to reflect the changes introduced by the 2020 version of the eleventh edition of the Nice Classification.