ARIPO is mandated to register marks and the administration of such registered marks on behalf of the Banjul Protocol Contracting States in accordance with the provisions of the Banjul Protocol on Marks. The Banjul Protocol on Marks was adopted on November 19, 1993, at Banjul, The Gambia.

The Banjul Protocol establishes a trademark application filing system along the lines of the Harare Protocol. An applicant may file a single application either at one of the Banjul Protocol Contracting States or directly with the ARIPO Office.  Since 1997, the protocol has been extensively revised in order to make it compatible with the TRIPs Agreement and the Trademark Law Treaty as well as make it more user-friendly.

States currently party to the Banjul Protocol are: Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Sao Tome and Principe, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.