The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) presents his compliments and has the honor to enclose the English translation of a letter dated June 6, 1997, from His Excellency Mr. Wu Jianmin, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Other International Organizations in Switzerland.
June 10, 1997
[Translation]
MPC-97100
Geneva, June 6, 1997
Sir,
I have the honour to inform the Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization and, through the Director-General, the member states of the Madrid Agreement and the Protocol Relating to that Agreement of the following:
With effect from 1 July 1997, the People's Republic of China shall resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong. Starting from that date, the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks and the Protocol Relating to that Agreement (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement and its Protocol) and, in particular, the requests for territorial extension of the international registration of marks to China will be deferred to be applied to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Possible measures to change this state of affairs are under studies. Once a solution is worked out, all the member states will be notified, in due course, of the measures as to when and how the above-mentioned Agreement and its Protocol will apply to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Please accept, Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration.
(signed:)
Wu Jianmin
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Permanent Representative of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Other International Organizations in Switzerland