Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev has signed a law "On the Accession of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs (on 2 July 1999, Geneva).”

This law was adopted by the Legislative Chamber on 26 March 2024, and approved by the Senate on 18 May 2024.

The Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement allows entities interested in promoting their products to benefit from a more favorable procedure for registering industrial designs compared to existing national systems.

Currently, developers in Uzbekistan must file an application in the form and language of each country to secure intellectual property protection for their industrial designs, paying for this procedure separately for each country.

The Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement will allow national developers to submit a single application to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which will handle all procedures and document distribution.

As of now, 70 countries are parties to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement, including most CIS countries.

The law enhances the protection of intellectual property for national producers and increases their responsibility in creating new products while preventing the illegal use of patented objects.

Accession to this international document is another significant step toward Uzbekistan's accession to the World Trade Organization.