STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS 
2007 No. 276 
PATENTS 
The Patents (Convention Countries) Order 2007 
Made  - - - - 7th February 2007 
Laid before Parliament  14th February 2007 
Coming into force  - - 6th April 2007 
 
At the Court at Buckingham Palace the 7th day of February 2007 
Present, 
The Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty in Council 
Her Majesty by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, in exercise of the powers conferred 
upon Her by sections 90(1) and 124(3) of the Patents Act 1977( a), makes the following Order: 
1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Patents (Convention Countries) Order 2007 and shall 
come into force on 6th April 2007. 
(2) The Patents (Convention Countries) Order 2006 is revoked ( b). 
2.—(1) The countries specified in the Schedule are declared to be convention countries for the 
purposes of section 5 of the Patents Act 1977. 
 
  Christine Cook  
 Deputy Clerk of the Privy Council 
                                                                                                                                                              
 
 
(a) 1977 c.37. 
(b) SI 2006/315.  2 
 SCHEDULE Article 2 
CONVENTION COUNTRIES 
Albania 
Algeria 
Andorra 
Angola Antigua and Barbuda 
Argentina 
Armenia Australia Austria 
Azerbaijan 
Bahamas Bahrain 
Bangladesh 
Barbados Belarus Belgium 
Belize 
Benin Bhutan 
Bolivia 
Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil 
Brunei Darussalam 
Bulgaria Burkina Faso 
Burundi 
Cambodia Cameroon Canada  3Central African Republic 
Chad 
Chile China Columbia 
Comoros 
Congo Congo, Democratic Republic of the 
Costa Rica 
Cote d’Ivoire Croatia Cuba 
Cyprus 
Czech Republic Denmark 
Djibouti 
Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador 
Egypt 
El Salvador Equatorial Guinea 
Estonia 
Faeroe Islands Fiji Finland 
France (including Overseas Departments and Territories) 
Gabon Gambia 
Georgia 
Germany Ghana Greece 
Grenada 
Guatemala  4Guinea 
Guinea-Bissau 
Guyana Haiti Holy See 
Honduras 
Hong Kong Hungary 
Iceland 
India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of 
Iraq 
Ireland Israel 
Italy 
Jamaica Japan Jordan 
Kazakhstan 
Kenya Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of 
Korea, Republic of 
Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People’s Democratic Republic 
Latvia 
Lebanon Lesotho 
Liberia 
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein Lithuania 
Luxembourg 
Macao  5Macedonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of 
Madagascar 
Malawi Malaysia Maldives 
Mali 
Malta Mauritania 
Mauritius 
Mexico Moldova, Republic of Monaco 
Mongolia 
Montenegro Morocco 
Mozambique 
Myanmar Namibia Nepal 
Netherlands 
Netherlands Antilles and Aruba New Zealand (including the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau) 
Nicaragua 
Niger Nigeria Norway 
Oman 
Pakistan Panama 
Papua New Guinea 
Paraguay Peru Philippines 
Poland 
Portugal  6Qatar 
Romania 
Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Kitts and Nevis 
Saint Lucia 
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines San Marino 
Sao Tome and Principe 
Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia 
Seychelles 
Sierra Leone Singapore 
Slovakia 
Slovenia Solomon Islands South Africa 
Spain 
Sri Lanka Sudan 
Suriname 
Swaziland Sweden Switzerland 
Syrian Arab Republic 
Taiwan Tajikistan 
Tanzania, United Republic of 
Thailand Togo Tonga 
Trinidad and Tobago 
Tunisia  7Turkey 
Turkmenistan 
Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates 
United States of America (including Puert o Rico and all territories and possessions) 
Uruguay Uzbekistan 
Venezuela 
Viet Nam Yemen Zambia 
Zimbabwe  
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
(This note is not part of the Order) 
This Order, pursuant to section 90(1) of the Pa tents Act 1977 (c.37), declares the countries 
specified in the Schedule to be convention countries for the purpose of section 5 of the Patents Act 
1977. Section 5 of that Act affords cert ain rights of priority to applicants for patents, and this 
Order provides those rights of priority to applications filed in the countries specified in this Order. 
In this Order the term ‘country’ includes coloni es, protectorates and territories by reason of section 
90(3) of that Act. 
The majority of the countries specified in the Order have acceded to the International Convention 
for the Protection of Industrial  Property (“the Paris Conven tion”) (as revised at Stockholm in 
1967) (Cmnd. 4431) or the Agreement establishing the World Trade Organisation (including the 
Agreement on Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) (Cm 3044-6, 3080, 3263-4, 
3268-9, 3271, 3275-7 and 3282). 
This Order revokes the Patents (Convention Cou ntries) Order 2006 (SI 2006/315) (“the 2006 
Order”). This Order provides a consolidated list of countries that are convention countries for the 
purposes of section 5 of the Patents Act 1977 and the only substantive change from the 2006 
Order is the addition of Yemen to the Schedule. Following Montenegro’s Declaration of 
Independence from Serbia adopted by the National  Assembly of Montenegro on 3rd June 2006, 
Serbia and Montenegro are dealt with separately in this Order. 
£3.00 
¤ Crown copyright 2007 
Printed and published in the UK by The Stationery Office Limited 
under the authority and superintendence of Carol Tullo, Controller of Her Majesty’s 
Stationery Office and Queen’s Printer of Acts of Parliament. 
E0149  2/2007 170149T  19585