• Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property; 
• Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO);
• Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT); and
• Lusaka Agreement of 1976.

• National patents; and
• ARIPO patents designating Gambia.

A six-month grace period is provided for.

Patent applications are examined as to compliance with formal requirements.  A national patent application will be subjected to substantive examination, but currently there is no procedure which provides for the issuing of official actions; i.e. a national patent application will either be granted or rejected. 

A national patent endures for a fifteen-year period from the date of filing and may be extended for a further five-year period: Provided the patent is being worked sufficiently in Gambia.

An ARIPO patent endures for a twenty-year period.

Annual renewal fees must be paid in advance and is payable from one year after the date of filing the patent application.  There is provided for a six-month grace period within which a late annual renewal fee may be paid.

A patent must be worked within four years from the date of grant of the patent.