GENEVA - A new version of the tenth edition of the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Classification) will enter into force on January 1, 2016. This new version will be available on the website of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), at the following address: www.wipo.int/classifications/nice/en/. 

According to WIPO, the 2016 version of the tenth edition of the Nice Classification includes a number of changes with regard to the previous version. The purpose of the present notice is to inform the Offices of the Contracting Parties of the Madrid Union, as well as applicants and holders, of the practice that is followed by the International Bureau of WIPO for the examination of applications for international registration that are presented during the transition to the new version of the tenth edition of the Nice Classification. 

The International Bureau of WIPO will apply the 2016 version of the tenth edition of the Nice Classification to all applications for international registration that are received by the Office of origin on or after January 1, 2016. 

In conformity with its standing practice, the International Bureau of WIPO will not reclassify, in accordance with the 2016 version of the tenth edition of the Nice Classification, the list of goods and services of an international registration that is the subject, after December 31, 2015, of a renewal, subsequent designation or any other change affecting the said list. 

Moreover, in accordance with the recommendation of the Committee of Experts of the Nice Union, made at its twenty-fifth session in April 2015, and for all international registrations for which the list of goods and services has been classified according to the 2016 version of the tenth edition of the Nice Classification, the International Bureau of WIPO will insert the abbreviation “NCL(10-2016)” next to the list of goods and services in the notifications sent to designated Contracting Parties, registration certificates and publications. 

The Madrid Goods & Services Manager (MGS) (available at: www.wipo.int/mgs/) will be updated to reflect the changes introduced by the latest version of the Nice Classification.