The agreement was reached in the Dutch city of The Hague. Some administrative reforms are specifically aimed at removing ambiguities in key legal documents and facilitating access to them. This reform also includes the clarification of the information contained in the Industrial Designs Register – namely the date of registration, the date of filing of the application, the details of any priority application, the registration number and the name and address of the registered holder. The following notes provide an overview of how Vietnam is implementing the agreement and is based on the country`s instrument of accession and related declarations, as well as information recently exchanged at a workshop of the Vietnamese Intellectual Property Office and discussions with officials of the Patent Office. WIPO will inform the applicant or his representative, if applicable. The Hague Convention is a system that allows holders of designs belonging to certain countries to submit a centralized application for designs for a number of States and/or intergovernmental organizations (in particular the European Union Intellectual Property Office (formerly OHIM)) instead of having to submit separate applications for each State and/or intergovernmental organization. International applications filed with the Intellectual Property Office must be filed in English. If a notified Office examines design applications or if its law complies with the provisions on oppositions, it may request that the refusal period be twelve months instead of six months. The term of protection is 15 years from the date of registration. Vietnam made this declaration in accordance with Article 17(3)(c) of the 1999 Law, which stipulated that the maximum term of protection under Vietnamese industrial design law was 15 years. The 1999 Act of the Agreement is open to any Member State of WIPO and to certain intergovernmental organizations.

Instruments of ratification or accession shall be deposited with the Director General of WIPO. While the 1960 Law is open to States Parties to the Paris Convention on Industrial Property (1883), the most advantageous law of 1999 is that governments of potential parties are encouraged to accede to it. Any Contracting Party designated by the applicant may refuse protection within 6 months or, where applicable, 12 months after the 1999 Act from the date of publication of the international registration. The refusal of protection may be based only on requirements of national law other than the formalities and administrative acts to be carried out under national law by the body of the Party refusing protection. Amendments to the Industrial Designs Act and new regulations are intended to make international industrial design applications more accessible to innovators and to facilitate the growth of Canada`s knowledge-based economy. .