The Madrid Protocol will enter into force in Saudi Arabia on 8 October 2026, after the country deposited its instrument of accession on 8 July.

With this development, the Madrid System has 117 members and covers 133 countries, including five of the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries (Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE).

The instrument of accession was accompanied by:

• the declaration referred to in Article 5(2)(b) and (c) of the Madrid Protocol, whereby the time limit of one year to notify a provisional refusal of protection is replaced by 18 months, and a provisional refusal resulting from an opposition may be notified after the expiry of this time limit;
• the declaration referred to in Article 8(7)(a) of the Madrid Protocol, whereby Saudi Arabia wants to receive an individual fee when it is designated in an international application, in a designation subsequent to an international registration and in respect of the renewal of an international registration where Saudi Arabia has been designated, instead of a share in the revenue produced by the supplementary and complementary fees;
• the notification under Rule 27bis(6) of the Regulations under the Madrid Protocol, whereby the Office of Saudi Arabia will not present to the International Bureau of WIPO requests for the division of an international registration in respect of Saudi Arabia because its law does not provide for the division of registrations of a mark; and
• the notification under Rule 27ter(2)(b) of the Regulations under the Madrid Protocol, whereby the Office of Saudi Arabia will not present to the International Bureau of WIPO requests for the merger of international registrations resulting from division because the law of Saudi Arabia does not provide for the merger of registrations of a mark

The amounts of the individual fee under Article 8(7)(a) will be notified separately.

Read more in the announcement on WIPO’s website.

Map of Saudi Arabia created by Norman Einstein and licensed under Creative Commons