The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) presents his compliments to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and, in accordance with the provisions of Article 16(5) of the above international Agreement, has the honor to notify him that the Government of the French Republic deposited on November 16, 1972, its instrument of ratification dated November 6, 1972, of the Strasbourg Agreement Concerning the International Patent Classification of March 24, 1971.
Pursuant to the provisions of Article 4(4)(ii) of the Agreement, the said instrument of ratification was accompanied by the following declaration:
"Taking into account Law No. 68-1 of January 2, 1968 to promote inventive activity and revise the patent system and having regard to the provisions of the Law under which the progressive application of the documentary report procedure has been established, a procedure which does not yet cover, at the present stage, all the branches of technology, France declares that it does not undertake to include the symbols relating to groups and subgroups of the classification in the documents and notices referred to in Article 4, paragraph (3) of the Arrangement and concerning the branches of technology for which the documentary report procedure has not yet been applied as long as this procedure has not been extended to the branches in question". (Translation)
A separate notification will be made of the entry into force of the said Agreement, when the required number of ratifications or accessions is reached.
November 20, 1972