IP/N/1/IRL/14  
IP/N/1/IRL/T/8  
 
20 March 2023  
(23-1987)  Page: 1/2 
Council for Trade -Related Aspects of  
Intellectual Property Rights  Original: English  
 
NOTIFICATION OF LAWS AND REGULATIONS  
UNDER ARTICLE 63.2 OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT  
IRELAND : TRADE MARKS ACT, 1996 (SECTION 66) REGULATIONS, 2001  
(S.I. NO. 9 OF 2001)  
Notifying Member  IRELAND  
 
Details of the notified legal text  
 
Title Trade Marks Act, 1996 (Section 66) Regulations, 2001 (S.I. No. 9 of 2001)  
Subject matter  Trademarks  
Nature of 
notification  [X] Main dedicated intellectual property law or regulation  
[  ] Other law or regulation  
Link to legal text* https://ip -documents.info/2023/IP/IRL/23_2083_00_e.pdf  
Notification status  [X] First notification  
[  ] Amendment or revision to notified legal text  
[  ] Replacement or consolidation of notified legal text(s)  
Previous 
notification(s) 
referred to  Not applicable  
Brief description of the notified legal text  
 
The purpose of these Regulations is to enable certain details regarding the seniority of Community 
trademarks to be recorded in the Register of Trade Marks.  
 
Community trademarks are valid in all EU member States. They are registered by the Office of 
Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) based in Alicante, Spain. In some cases, a tradema rk 
has already been registered in an EU member State when an application for a Community trademark 
is filed. In such cases there is provision under the Community Trade Mark Regulation for a claim to 
be made for the Community trademark to assume the rights of the earlier national trademark with 
effect from the date of national registration. This is known as "seniority ". 
 
Seniority may be claimed in connection with a Community trademark application at the time of, or 
within two months of, the filing date of t he application. OHIM notifies national Patents Offices of 
such seniority claims. These Regulations provide, in the case of seniority in respect of earlier Irish 
trademarks, for the Controller of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks to record such claims in the  
Register of Trade Marks. This provision will enable any person to know, by inspecting the Register 
of Trade Marks, whether the seniority of an earlier Irish trademark has been claimed in a particular 
Community trademark application.  
 IP/N/1/IRL/14 • IP/N/1/IRL/T/8  
 
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  If a trademark holder fails to claim seniority within 2 months of submitting an application for a 
Community trademark, there is a further opportunity to claim seniority but only after the mark has 
been registered. Provision to record seniority claims in these c ircumstances has already been made 
in a Regulation last year (Trade Marks Act, 1996 (Community Trade Mark) Regulations, 2000 
(S.I. No. 229 of 2000)).  
 
Language(s) of 
notified legal text English  
Entry into force  29 January 2001  
Other date   Adoption: 25 January 2001  
 
Notification details  
 
Submission date 
of notification  14 March 2023  
Other information   
Agency or 
authority 
responsible  Intellectual Property Unit  
Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment  
 
Email:  trademarks@enterprise.gov.ie  
 
 
* Links are provided to texts of laws and regulations notified under the TRIPS Agreement in the form 
supplied by the Member concerned; the WTO Secretariat does not endorse or revise their content.