Further to our previous update, the Libyan Ministry of Economy & Trade have issued Executive Regulations that state that, with effect from 1 May 2024, supporting documentation for trade mark applications (namely, Powers of Attorney and Extracts from the Commercial Register or Certificates of Incorporation) will only be valid for a period of one year from the signature date.
Whilst the Ministry has suggested that in cases where documents are considered out of date, applications will still continue to advertisement and registration, they have advised that if an official or third party objection is received on such a file these will not be notified to the applicant or agent on record. The consequence of this is that the application may lapse by default. It will also be a requirement for the documents to be within date to pay any fees or submit any forms.
Efforts have been made to engage with the Ministry to overcome this requirement without success.
It is unclear how the requirement will be enforced in practice but our advice to clients is that the documents are kept up-to-date for all pending matters.
contact us for more information.