Saudi Arabia's accession to the Madrid Protocol

Having acceded to the Madrid Protocol on 8 July 2026, trade mark filing via the Madrid System will be made possible in Saudi Arabia effective 8 October 2026.

Moving forward, any trade mark owner:-

1. filing an international mark registration via the Madrid System can include Saudi Arabia as a designated territory;
2. owning an existing international mark registration can extend protection to Saudi Arabia, via the filing of a subsequent designation; and
3. in Saudi Arabia can make use of the Madrid System to file an international mark registration and extend trade mark protection to the other Madrid System countries. 

Saudi Arabia is the fifth member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (“GCC”) to join the Madrid System, following Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The only member within the GCC not part of the Madrid System is Kuwait. 

It is foreseen that certain administrative steps involved with a standalone direct national application in Saudi Arabia will not be necessary when filing via the Madrid System, such as legalization/ apostille of a Power of Attorney (“PoA”) required for filing the trade mark application. 

Also, the general validity of a PoA for use is limited to 5 years, meaning that a new PoA will need to be executed, and legalized/ apostilled after that 5-year period. This is not applicable when filing the trade mark application via the Madrid System.

It is also likely that no appointment of local agent for the Saudi Arabian designation through Madrid System is required, unless there is a refusal or opposition raised. 

Businesses looking to file trade marks in Saudi Arabia will now have the additional option to consider filing through the Madrid System. That said, ultimately, there should be careful consideration of whether to opt for direct national application or filing via the Madrid System, taking into account factors such as budgets, urgency in obtaining trade mark registration and related commercial decisions.

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