Brussels, 29/10/2003 (Agence Europe) - The Council has adopted a decision and a regulation on the European Community's membership of the Madrid Protocol on International Trademarks. These texts will allow companies simultaneously to protect their trademark in the EU and the whole world via a single procedure. The holders of Community trademarks lodged or registered with the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) in Alicante will be able to ask for protection to be extended to one or several of the 61 signatory countries to the Madrid Protocol. Conversely, the holders of trademarks lodged with the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in Geneva will be able to ask for their protection to be extended to the European Union, including for "after-designations" for trademarks which have already been lodged. The Alicante Office will start reviewing the first international trademarks as of the last quarter of 2004, when the Madrid Protocol enters into force within the EU.