Representatives of the State Agency on Intellectual Property (AGEPI) and the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) met online, on 26 October this year, in a working meeting in which they addressed some practical issues regarding the implementation of the provisions of the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications (Geneva Act).

Aspects related to the preliminary actions needed to be taken by the Republic of Moldova to ratify the Geneva Act, as well as the transition period offered to the country, the financial sustainability of the system established by the Geneva Act, and the future plans of the International Bureau regarding the automation of processes related to the management of international registrations were discussed during the meeting.

AGEPI representatives underlined the importance of the geographical indications system and implicitly of the Geneva Act for the Republic of Moldova, mentioning the significant contribution of the Act to facilitating the procedures for international registration of geographical indications, while reconfirming the interest of the Republic of Moldova in ratifying this Act.

It should be recalled that the Geneva Act was adopted in Geneva, Switzerland, at the Diplomatic Conference on 11-21 May 2015 and represents a revised version of the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration, signed on October 31, 1958. The accession of the European Union on November 26, 2019, allowed the entry into force of the Geneva Act three months later, on February 26, 2020.

The Republic of Moldova signed the Geneva Act on 11.04.2016 and is supposed to initiate its ratification procedure.