Timo Shihepo

Windhoek - SADC has approved a R5.6 million budget for the registration of the SADC logo and trademarks in its member states as well as in several international countries.

The Southern Times has seen a document showing that legal services have been procured from a private law firm to support the process of registering the SADC trademarks, namely: Southern African Development Community, the acronym SADC, and the SADC logo.

Information shows that only Botswana has registered the SADC trademarks. In Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the applications are waiting for power of attorney from agents for SADC signature.

In Namibia and Tanzania, the applications have been transmitted to the designated states for substantive examination.

In South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Malawi and China applications were lodged and official numbers indented for registration have been issued.

The countries where applications have been transmitted and awaiting for official filing of receipts are; Madagascar, Mozambique, Mauritius, Iran, India, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, the United States of America and some European countries.

The SADC Secretariat said there is significant progress on the registration of the SADC trademark and logo.

“We urge member states to notify the Secretariat should they encounter any cases of misuse, misrepresentation and abuse of the SADC name, acronym and logo,” said the SADC Secretariat.

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