Article 28 Becoming Party to This Act

any State which is party to the Paris Convention may sign and become party to this Act;

any other State member of the Organization may sign and become party to this Act if it declares that its legislation complies with the provisions of the Paris Convention concerning appellations of origin, geographical indications and trademarks;

any intergovernmental organization may sign and become party to this Act, provided that at least one member State of that intergovernmental organization is party to the Paris Convention and provided that the intergovernmental organization declares that it has been duly authorized, in accordance with its internal procedures, to become party to this Act and that, under the constituting treaty of the intergovernmental organization, legislation applies under which regional titles of protection can be obtained in respect of geographical indications.

an instrument of ratification, if it has signed this Act; or

an instrument of accession, if it has not signed this Act.

Subject to subparagraph (b), the effective date of the deposit of an instrument of ratification or accession shall be the date on which that instrument is deposited.

The effective date of the deposit of the instrument of ratification or accession of any State that is a member State of an intergovernmental organization and in respect of which the protection of appellations of origin or geographical indications can only be obtained on the basis of legislation applying between the member States of the intergovernmental organization shall be the date on which the instrument of ratification or accession of that intergovernmental organization is deposited, if that date is later than the date on which the instrument of the said State has been deposited. However, this subparagraph does not apply with regard to States that are party to the Lisbon Agreement or the 1967 Act and shall be without prejudice to the application of Article 31 with regard to such States.