Romania is one of the founding members of the Paris Convention for the protection of Industrial Property. Our country is also a contracting party of the Madrid and Hague Systems governed by WIPO. Since March 1, 2003 Romania is a contracting state of the European Patent Organization (EPO) and after joining the European Union on January 1, 2007 our country is a member of the European Trademark & Design area. The Romanian Office for Inventions and Trademarks (ROIT) is the national authority that provides protection for the Romanian IP Rights: patents, utility models, supplementary certificates of protection, trademarks, industrial designs and geographical indications.