Adopted on March 2, 1977, the Bangui Agreement governs intellectual property within the seventeen member states of OAPI. This Agreement serves as national law for each of the states. It was revised on February 24, 1999, and December 14, 2015. The latter revision aimed, in particular, to bring it into line with the new global legal environment and to enable it to better address the economic and social development concerns of the OAPI member states.
It should be noted that since the signing of the Bangui Agreement on February 24, 1999, many international legal instruments governing intellectual property have been adopted or revised, including: the Doha Declaration on Intellectual Property and Public Health, the Decision of the General Council of the World Trade Organization (WTO) of August 30, 2003, the Protocol amending Article 30 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the Patent Law Treaty, the Singapore Trade Mark Treaty, the Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances, and the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Blind, Visually Impaired and Printed-Text Disabled Persons.
It comprises ten annexes setting out the applicable provisions in each Member State with regard to:
