Summary of the Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (1957)

The Nice Agreement, concluded at Nice in 1957, revised at Stockholm in 1967 and at Geneva in 1977, and amended in 1979, establishes a classification of goods and services for the purposes of registering trademarks and service marks (the Nice Classification).

The competent offices of the Contracting States must indicate in official documents and in any publication they issue in respect of the registration of marks the numbers of the classes of the Classification to which the goods or services for which the mark is registered belong.

The Nice Agreement created a Union, which has an Assembly. Every State that is a member of the Union and has adhered to the Stockholm Act or the Geneva Act of the Nice Agreement is a member of the Assembly. Among the most important tasks of the Assembly is the adoption of the biennial program and budget of the Union.

The Agreement also set up a Committee of Experts in which all members of the Union are represented. The main task of the Committee is the periodical revision of the Classification.

The Agreement is open to States party to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (1883). Instruments of ratification or accession must be deposited with the Director General of WIPO.