COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2245/2002
of 21 October 2002
implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 on Community designs
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 of 12
December 2001 on Community designs(1), and in particular
Article 107(3) thereof,
Whereas:
(1)Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 creates a system enabling a
design having effect throughout the Community to be
obtained on the basis of an application to the Office for
Harmonisation in the Internal Market (trade marks and
designs) (hereinafter ‘the Office’).
(2)For this purpose, Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 contains
the necessary provisions for a procedure leading to the
registration of a Community design, as well as for theadministration of registered Community designs, for
appeals against decisions of the Office and for proceed-ings for the invalidation of a Community design.
(3)The present Regulation lays down the necessary
measures for implementing the provisions of Regulation
(EC) No 6/2002.
(4)This Regulation should ensure the smooth and efficient
operation of design proceedings before the Office.
(5)The measures provided for in this Regulation are inaccordance with the opinion of the Committee estab-
lished under Article 109 of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
CHAPTER I
APPLICATION PROCEDURE
Article 1
Content of the application
1. The application for a registered Community design shallcontain:
(a) a request for registration of the design as a registered
Community design;
(b) the name, address and nationality of the applicant and the
State in which the applicant is domiciled or in which it hasits seat or establishment. Names of natural persons shalltake the form of the family name and the given name(s).
Names of legal entities shall be indicated by their official
designation, which may be abbreviated in a customarymanner; furthermore, the State whose law governs suchentities shall be indicated.
The telephone numbers as well as fax numbers and details
of other data-communications links, such as electronic
mail, may be given. Only one address shall, in principle, beindicated for each applicant; where several addresses areindicated, only the address mentioned first shall be takeninto account, except where the applicant designates one ofthe addresses as an address for service. If the Office has
given the applicant an identification number, it shall be
sufficient to mention that number together with the nameof the applicant;
(c) a representation of the design in accordance with Article 4
of this Regulation or, if the application concerns a two-
dimensional design and contains a request for deferment ofpublication in accordance with Article 50 of Regulation
(EC) No 6/2002, a specimen in accordance with Article 5of this Regulation;
(d) an indication, in accordance with Article 3(3), of the
products in which the design is intended to be incorporatedor to which it is intended to be applied;
(e) if the applicant has appointed a representative, the name of
that representative and the address of his/her place of busi-ness in accordance with point (b); if the representative hasmore than one business address or if there are two or morerepresentatives with different business addresses, the appli-
cation shall indicate which address shall be used as an
address for service; where no such indication is made, onlythe first-mentioned address shall be taken into account asan address for service. If there is more than one applicant,the application may indicate the appointment of one appli-cant or representative as common representative. If an
appointed representative has been given an identification
number by the Office, it shall be sufficient to mention thatnumber together with the name of the representative;
(f) if applicable, a declaration that priority of a previous appli-
cation is claimed pursuant to Article 42 of Regulation (EC)
No 6/2002, stating the date on which the previous applica-
tion was filed and the country in which or for which it wasfiled;
(g) if applicable, a declaration that exhibition priority is
claimed pursuant to Article 44 of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002, stating the name of the exhibition and the date of
the first disclosure of the products in which the design is
incorporated or to which it is applied;17.12.2002 L 341/28 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
(1) OJ L 3, 5.1.2002, p. 1.
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        - 3 -(h) a specification of the language in which the application is
filed, and of the second language pursuant to Article 98(2)
of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002;
(i) the signature of the applicant or his/her representative in
accordance with Article 65.
2. The application may contain:
(a) a single description per design not exceeding 100 words
explaining the representation of the design or the specimen;
the description must relate only to those features which
appear in the reproductions of the design or the specimen;it shall not contain statements as to the purported noveltyor individual character of the design or its technical value;
(b) a request for deferment of publication of registration in
accordance with Article 50(1) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002;
(c) an indication of the ‘Locarno classification’ of the products
contained in the application, that is to say, of the class orclasses and the subclass or subclasses to which they belongin accordance with the Annex to the Agreement estab-lishing an international classification for industrial designs,signed at Locarno on 8 October 1968 (hereinafter ‘theLocarno Agreement’), referred to in Article 3 and subject to
Article 2(2);
(d) the citation of the designer or of the team of designers or a
statement signed by the applicant to the effect that the
designer or team of designers has waived the right to becited under Article 36(3)(e) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002.
Article 2
Multiple application
1. An application may be a multiple application requesting
the registration of several designs.
2. When several designs other than ornamentation are
combined in a multiple application, the application shall bedivided if the products in which the designs are intended to beincorporated or to which they are intended to be appliedbelong to more than one class of the Locarno Classification.
3. For each design contained in the multiple application the
applicant shall provide a representation of the design in accor-
dance with Article 4 and the indication of the product in which
the design is intended to be incorporated or to be applied.
4. The applicant shall number the designs contained in the
multiple application consecutively, using arabic numerals.Article 3
Classification and indication of products
1. Products shall be classified in accordance with Article 1of the Locarno Agreement, as amended and in force at the date
of filing of the design.
2. The classification of products shall serve exclusively
administrative purposes.
3. The indication of products shall be worded in such a way
as to indicate clearly the nature of the products and to enable
each product to be classified in only one class of the Locarno
classification, preferably using the terms appearing in the list ofproducts set out therein.
4. The products shall be grouped according to the classes of
the Locarno classification, each groupbeing p receded by thenumber of the class to which that groupof p roducts belongsand presented in the order of the classes and subclasses under
that classification.
Article 4
Representation of the design
1. The representation of the design shall consist in a graphicor photographic reproduction of the design, either in black and
white or in colour. It shall meet the following requirements:
(a) save where the application is filed by electronic means
pursuant to Article 67, the representation must be filed on
separate sheets of paper or reproduced on the page
provided for that purpose in the form made available bythe Office pursuant to Article 68;
(b) in the case of separate sheets of paper, the design shall be
reproduced on opaque white paper and either pasted orprinted directly on it. Only one copy shall be filed and thesheets of paper shall not be folded or stapled;
(c) the size of the separate sheet shall be DIN A4 size
(29,7 cm×21 cm) and the space used for the reproduc-tion shall be no larger than 26,2 cm×17 cm. A margin ofat least 2,5 cm shall be left on the left-hand side; at the topof each sheet of paper the number of views shall be indi-
cated pursuant to paragraph 2 and, in the case of a multiple
application, the consecutive number of the design; noexplanatory text, wording or symbols, other than the indi-cation ‘top’ or the name or address of the applicant, may bedisplayed thereon;
(d) where the application is filed by electronic means, the
graphic or photographic reproduction of the designs shallbe in a data format determined by the President of theOffice; the manner of identifying the different designs
contained in a multiple application, or the different views,
shall be determined by the President of the Office;17.12.2002 L 341/29 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
IP/N/1/EU/D/3 
        - 4 -(e) the design shall be reproduced on a neutral background
and shall not be retouched with ink or correcting fluid. It
shall be of a quality permitting all the details of the matterfor which protection is sought to be clearly distinguishedand permitting it to be reduced or enlarged to a size no
greater than 8 cm by 16 cm per view for entry in the
Register of Community Designs provided for in Article 72of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002, hereinafter ‘the Register’,and for direct publishing in the Community Designs Bulletin
referred to in Article 73 of that Regulation.
2. The representation may contain no more than sevendifferent views of the design. Any one graphic or photographicreproduction may contain only one view. The applicant shallnumber each view using arabic numerals. The number shallconsist of separate numerals separated by a point, the numeral
to the left of the point indicating the number of the design, that
to the right indicating the number of the view.
In cases where more than seven views are provided, the Office
may disregard for registration and publication any of the extraviews. The Office shall take the views in the consecutive order
in which the views are numbered by the applicant.
3. Where an application concerns a design that consists in a
repeating surface pattern, the representation of the design shallshow the complete pattern and a sufficient portion of the
repeating surface.
The size limits set out in paragraph 1(c) shall apply.4. Where an application concerns a design consisting in a
typographic typeface, the representation of the design shall
consist in a string of all the letters of the alphabet, in both
upper and lower case, and of all the arabic numerals, togetherwith a text of five lines produced using that typeface, bothletters and numerals being in the size pitch 16.
Article 5
Specimens
1. Where the application concerns a two-dimensional designand contains a request for a deferment of publication, in accor-
dance with Article 50(1) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002, the
representation of the design may be replaced by a specimenpasted on a sheet of paper.
Applications for which a specimen is submitted must be sent
by a single mail or directly delivered to the office of filing.
Both the application and the specimen shall be submitted at
the same time.
2. The specimens shall not exceed 26,2 cm×17 cm in size,
50 grams in weight or 3 mm in thickness. The specimen shall
be capable of being stored, unfolded, alongside documents of
the size prescribed in Article 4(1)(c).3. Specimens that are perishable or dangerous to store shallnot be filed.
The specimen shall be filed in five copies; in the case of a
multiple application, five copies of the specimen shall be filed
for each design.
4. Where the design concerns a repeating surface pattern,
the specimen shall show the complete pattern and a sufficient
portion of the repeating surface in length and width. The limitsset out in paragraph 2 shall apply.
Article 6
Fees for the application
1. The following fees shall be paid at the time when theapplication is submitted to the Office:
(a) the registration fee;
(b) the publication fee or a deferment fee if deferment of publi-
cation has been requested;
(c) an additional registration fee in respect of each additional
design included in a multiple application;
(d) an additional publication fee in respect of each additional
design included in a multiple application, or an additionaldeferment fee in respect of each additional design includedin a multiple application if deferment of publication hasbeen requested.
2. Where the application includes a request for deferment ofpublication of registration, the publication fee and any addi-tional publication fee in respect of each additional designincluded in a multiple application shall be paid within the timelimits specified in Article 15(4).
Article 7
Filing of the application
1. The Office shall mark the documents making upthe
application with the date of its receipt and the file number of
the application.
Each design contained in a multiple application shall be
numbered by the Office in accordance with a system deter-
mined by the President.
The Office shall issue to the applicant without delay a receipt
which shall specify the file number, the representation, descrip-
tion or other identification of the design, the nature and the
number of the documents and the date of their receipt.
In the case of a multiple application, the receipt issued by the
Office shall specify the first design and the number of designs
filed.17.12.2002 L 341/30 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
IP/N/1/EU/D/3 
        - 5 -2. If the application is filed with the central industrial prop-
erty office of a Member State or at the Benelux Design Officein accordance with Article 35 of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002,the office of filing shall number each page of the application,using arabic numerals. The office of filing shall mark the docu-
ments making up the application with the date of receipt and
the number of pages before forwarding the application to theOffice.
The office of filing shall issue to the applicant without delay a
receipt specifying the nature and the number of the documentsand the date of their receipt.
3. If the Office receives an application forwarded by the
central industrial property office of a Member State or the
Benelux Design Office, it shall mark the application with the
date of receipt and the file number and shall issue to the appli-cant without delay a receipt in accordance with the third andfourth subparagraphs of paragraph 1, indicating the date ofreceipt at the Office.
Article 8
Claiming priority
1. Where the priority of one or more previous applicationsis claimed in the application pursuant to Article 42 of Regula-tion (EC) No 6/2002, the applicant shall indicate the filenumber of the previous application and file a copy of it within
three months of the filing date referred to in Article 38 of that
Regulation. The President of the Office shall determine theevidence to be provided by the applicant.
2. Where, subsequent to the filing of the application, the
applicant wishes to claim the priority of one or more previousapplications pursuant to Article 42 of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002, he/she shall submit, within one month of the filing date,
the declaration of priority, stating the date on which and the
country in or for which the previous application was made.
The applicant shall submit to the Office the indications and
evidence referred to in paragraph 1 within three months ofreceipt of the declaration of priority.
Article 9
Exhibition priority
1. Where exhibition priority has been claimed in the appli-cation pursuant to Article 44 of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002,the applicant shall, together with the application or at the latestwithin three months of the filing date, file a certificate issued atthe exhibition by the authority responsible for the protectionof industrial property at the exhibition.
That certificate shall declare that the design was incorporated
in or applied to the product and disclosed at the exhibition,
and shall state the opening date of the exhibition and, wherethe first disclosure of the product did not coincide with theopening date of the exhibition, the date of such first disclosure.The certificate shall be accompanied by an identification of theactual disclosure of the product, duly certified by thatauthority.
2. Where the applicant wishes to claim an exhibition
priority subsequent to the filing of the application, the declara-tion of priority, indicating the name of the exhibition and the
date of the first disclosure of the product in which the design
was incorporated or to which it was applied, shall be submittedwithin one month of the filing date. The indications andevidence referred to in paragraph 1 shall be submitted to theOffice within three months of receipt of the declaration ofpriority.
Article 10
Examination of requirements for a filing date and of
formalrequirements
1. The Office shall notify the applicant that a date of filing
cannot be granted if the application does not contain:
(a) a request for registration of the design as a registered
Community design;
(b) information identifying the applicant;
(c) a representation of the design pursuant to Article 4(1)(d)
and (e) or, where applicable, a specimen.
2. If the deficiencies indicated in paragraph 1 are remedied
within two months of receipt of the notification, the date onwhich all the deficiencies are remedied shall determine the dateof filing.
If the deficiencies are not remedied before the time limit
expires, the application shall not be dealt with as a Communitydesign application. Any fees paid shall be refunded.
3. The Office shall call upon the applicant to remedy the
deficiencies noted within a time limit specified by it where,
although a date of filing has been granted, the examinationreveals that:
(a) the requirements set out in Articles 1, 2, 4 and 5 or the
other formal requirements for applications laid down in theRegulation (EC) No 6/2002 or in this Regulation have notbeen complied with;
(b) the full amount of the fees payable pursuant to Article 6(1),
read in conjunction with Commission Regulation (EC) No
2246/2002(
1), has not been received by the Office;
(c) where priority has been claimed pursuant to Articles 8 and
9, either in the application itself or within one month after
the date of filing, the other requirements set out in those
Articles have not been complied with;17.12.2002 L 341/31 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
(1) See page 54 of this Official Journal.
IP/N/1/EU/D/3 
        - 6 -(d) in the case of a multiple application, the products in which
the designs are intended to be incorporated or to which
they are intended to be applied belong to more than oneclass of the Locarno classification.
In particular, the Office shall call upon the applicant to pay therequired fees within two months of the date of notification,together with the late payment fees provided for in Article107(2)(a) to (d) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 and as set out in
Regulation (EC) No 2246/2002.
In the case of the deficiency referred to in point (d) of the first
subparagraph, the Office shall call upon the applicant to divide
the multiple application in order to ensure compliance with the
requirements under Article 2(2). It shall also call upon theapplicant to pay the total amount of the fees for all the applica-tions resulting from the separation of the multiple application,within such a time limit as it may specify.
After the applicant has complied with the request to divide the
application within the time limit set, the date of filing of theresulting application or applications shall be the date of filing
granted to the multiple application initially filed.
4. If the deficiencies referred to in paragraph 3(a) and (d) are
not remedied before the time limit expires, the Office shall
reject the application.
5. If the fees payable pursuant to Article 6(1)(a) and (b) are
not paid before the time limit expires, the Office shall reject the
application.
6. If any additional fees payable pursuant to Article 6(1)(c)
or (d) in respect of multiple applications are not paid or not
paid in full before the time limit expires, the Office shall reject
the application in respect of all the additional designs whichare not covered by the amount paid.
In the absence of any criteria for determining which designs
are intended to be covered, the Office shall take the designs inthe numerical order in which they are represented in accor-dance with Article 2(4). The Office shall reject the applicationin so far as it concerns designs for which additional fees havenot been paid or have not been paid in full.
7. If the deficiencies referred to in paragraph 3(c) are not
remedied before the time limit expires, the right of priority forthe application shall be lost.
8. If any of the deficiencies referred to in paragraph 3 is not
remedied before the time limit expires and such deficiencyconcerns only some of the designs contained in a multiple
application, the Office shall reject the application, or the right
of priority shall be lost, only in so far as those designs areconcerned.
Article 11
Examination of grounds for non-registrability
1. Where, pursuant to Article 47 of Regulation (EC) No 6/
2002, the Office finds, in the course of carrying out the exami-
nation under Article 10 of this Regulation, that the design forwhich protection is sought does not correspond to the defini-tion of design provided in Article 3(a) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 or that the design is contrary to public policy or toaccepted principles of morality, it shall inform the applicantthat the design is non-registrable, specifying the ground for
non-registrability.
2. The Office shall specify a time limit within which the
applicant may submit his/her observations, withdraw the appli-
cation or amend it by submitting an amended representation ofthe design, provided that the identity of the design is retained.
3. Where the applicant fails to overcome the grounds for
non-registrability within the time limit, the Office shall refusethe application. If those grounds concern only some of thedesigns contained in a multiple application, the Office shallrefuse the application only in so far as those designs areconcerned.
Article 12
Withdrawalor correction of the appl ication
1. The applicant may at any time withdraw a Communitydesign application or, in the case of a multiple application,withdraw some of the designs contained in the application.
2. Only the name and address of the applicant, errors of
wording or of copying, or obvious mistakes may be corrected,at the request of the applicant and provided that such correc-
tion does not change the representation of the design.
3. An application for the correction of the application
pursuant to paragraph 2 shall contain:
(a) the file number of the application;
(b) the name and the address of the applicant in accordance
with Article 1(1)(b);
(c) where the applicant has appointed a representative, the
name and the business address of the representative in
accordance with Article 1(1)(e);
(d) the indication of the element of the application to be
corrected and that element in its corrected version.
4. If the requirements for the correction of the application
are not fulfilled, the Office shall communicate the deficiency tothe applicant. If the deficiency is not remedied within the timelimits specified by the Office, the Office shall reject the applica-
tion for correction.
5. A single application may be made for the correction of
the same element in two or more applications submitted by the
same applicant.
6. Paragraphs 2 to 5 shall apply mutatis mutandis to applica-
tions to correct the name or the business address of a represen-
tative appointed by the applicant.17.12.2002 L 341/32 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
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        - 7 -CHAPTER II
REGISTRATION PROCEDURE
Article 13
Registration of the design
1. If the application satisfies the requirements referred to in
Article 48 of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002, the design containedin that application and the particulars set out in Article 69(2)
of this Regulation shall be recorded in the Register.
2. If the application contains a request for deferment of
publication pursuant to Article 50 of Regulation (EC) No 6/
2002, that fact and the date of expiry of the period of defer-ment shall be recorded.
3. The fees payable pursuant to Article 6(1) shall not be
refunded even if the design applied for is not registered.
Article 14
Publication of the registration
1. The registration of the design shall be published in theCommunity Designs Bulletin .
2. Subject to paragraph 3, the publication of the registrationshall contain:
(a) the name and address of the holder of the Community
design (hereinafter ‘the holder’);
(b) where applicable, the name and business address of the
representative appointed by the holder other than a repre-sentative falling within the first subparagraph of Article77(3) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002; if more than onerepresentative has the same business address, only thename and business address of the first-named representativeshall be published, the name being followed by the words
‘et al’; if there are two or more representatives with
different business addresses, only the address for servicedetermined pursuant to Article 1(1)(e) of this Regulationshall be published; where an association of representativesis appointed pursuant to Article 62(9) only the name and
business address of the association shall be published;
(c) the representation of the design pursuant to Article 4;
where the representation of the design is in colour, the
publication shall be in colour;
(d) where applicable, an indication that a description has been
filed pursuant to Article 1(2)(a);
(e) an indication of the products in which the design is
intended to be incorporated or to which it is intended tobe applied, preceded by the number of the relevant classesand subclasses of the Locarno classification, and grouped
accordingly;
(f) where applicable, the name of the designer or the team of
designers;(g) the date of filing and the file number and, in the case of a
multiple application, the file number of each design;
(h) where applicable, particulars of the claim of priority
pursuant to Article 42 of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002;
(i) where applicable, particulars of the claim of exhibition
priority pursuant to Article 44 of Regulation (EC) No 6/
2002;
(j) the date and the registration number and the date of the
publication of the registration;
(k) the language in which the application was filed and the
second language indicated by the applicant pursuant to
Article 98(2) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002.
3. If the application contains a request for deferment ofpublication pursuant to Article 50 of Regulation (EC) No 6/
2002, a mention of the deferment shall be published in theCommunity Designs Bulletin , together with the name of the
holder, the name of the representative, if any, the date of filingand registration, and the file number of the application. Neitherthe representation of the design nor any particulars identifying
its appearance shall be published.
Article 15
Deferment of publication
1. Where the application contains a request for deferment of
publication pursuant to Article 50 of Regulation (EC) No 6/
2002, the holder shall, together with the request or at the latest
three months before the 30-month deferment period expires:
(a) pay the publication fee referred to in Article 6(1)(b);
(b) in the case of a multiple registration, pay the additional
publication fees, referred to in Article 6(1)(d);
(c) in cases where a representation of the design has been
replaced by a specimen in accordance with Article 5, file arepresentation of the design in accordance with Article 4.This applies to all the designs contained in a multiple appli-cation for which publication is requested;
(d) in the case of a multiple registration, clearly indicate which
of the designs contained therein is to be published or whichof the designs are to be surrendered, or, if the period ofdeferment has not yet expired, for which designs defermentis to be continued.
Where the holder requests publication before the expiry of the30-month deferment period, he/she shall, at the latest threemonths before the requested date of publication, comply with
the requirements set out in points (a) to (d) of the first para-
graph.17.12.2002 L 341/33 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
IP/N/1/EU/D/3 
        - 8 -2. If the holder fails to comply with the requirements set
out in paragraph 1(c) or (d), the Office shall call upon him/herto remedy the deficiencies within a specified time limit whichshall in no case expire after the 30-month deferment period.
3. If the holder fails to remedy the deficiencies referred to in
paragraph 2 within the applicable time limit:
(a) the registered Community design shall be deemed from the
outset not to have had the effects specified in Regulation(EC) No 6/2002;
(b) where the holder has requested earlier publication as
provided for under the second subparagraph of paragraph1, the request shall be deemed not to have been filed.
4. If the holder fails to pay the fees referred to in paragraph1(a) or (b), the Office shall call upon him/her to pay those feestogether with the fees for late payment provided for in Article107(2)(b) or (d) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 and as set out in
Regulation (EC) No 2246/2002, within a specified time limit
which shall in no case expire after the 30-month defermentperiod.
If no payment has been made within that time limit, the Office
shall notify the holder that the registered Community designhas from the outset not had the effects specified in Regulation(EC) No 6/2002.
If, in respect of a multiple registration, a payment is made
within that time limit but is insufficient to cover all the feespayable pursuant to paragraph 1(a) and (b), as well as theapplicable fee for late payment, all the designs in respect of
which the fees have not been paid shall be deemed from the
outset not to have had the effects specified in Regulation (EC)No 6/2002.
Unless it is clear which designs the amount paid is intended to
cover, and in the absence of other criteria for determiningwhich designs are intended to be covered, the Office shall takethe designs in the numerical order in which they are repre-sented in accordance with Article 2(4).
All designs for which the additional publication fee has not
been paid or has not been paid in full, together with the applic-
able fee for late payment, shall be deemed from the outset not
to have had the effects specified in Regulation (EC) No 6/2002.
Article 16
Publication after the period for deferment
1. Where the holder has complied with the requirementslaid down in Article 15, the Office shall, at the expiry of theperiod for deferment or in the case of a request for earlierpublication, as soon as is technically possible:
(a) publish the registered Community design in the Community
Designs Bulletin , with the indications set out in Article
14(2), together with an indication of the fact that the appli-cation contained a request for deferment of publicationpursuant to Article 50 of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 and,
where applicable, that a specimen was filed in accordance
with Article 5 of this Regulation;(b) make available for public inspection any file relating to the
design;
(c) open to public inspection all the entries in the Register,
including any entries withheld from inspection pursuant toArticle 73.
2. Where Article 15(4) applies, the actions referred to inparagraph 1 of this Article shall not take place in respect of
those designs contained in the multiple registration which are
deemed from the outset not to have had the effects specified inRegulation (EC) No 6/2002.
Article 17
Certificate of registration
1. After publication, the Office shall issue to the holder acertificate of registration which shall contain the entries in theRegister provided for in Article 69(2) and a statement to theeffect that those entries have been recorded in the Register.
2. The holder may request that certified or uncertified copies
of the certificate of registration be supplied to him/her uponpayment of a fee.
Article 18
Maintenance of the design in an amended form
1. Where, pursuant to Article 25(6) of Regulation (EC) No6/2002, the registered Community design is maintained in an
amended form, the Community design in its amended form
shall be entered in the Register and published in the Community
Designs Bulletin .
2. Maintenance of a design in an amended form may includea partial disclaimer, not exceeding 100 words, by the holder or
an entry in the Register of Community Designs of a court deci-
sion or a decision by the Office declaring the partial invalidityof the design right.
Article 19
Change of the name or address of the holder or of his/her
registered representative
1. A change of the name or address of the holder which isnot the consequence of a transfer of the registered design shall,
at the request of the holder, be recorded in the Register.
2. An application for a change of the name or address of
the holder shall contain:
(a) the registration number of the design;
(b) the name and the address of the holder as recorded in the
Register. If the holder has been given an identification
number by the Office, it shall be sufficient to indicate that
number together with the name of the holder;17.12.2002 L 341/34 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
IP/N/1/EU/D/3 
        - 9 -(c) the indication of the name and address of the holder, as
changed, in accordance with Article 1(1)(b);
(d) where the holder has appointed a representative, the name
and business address of the representative, in accordance
with Article 1(1)(e).
3. The application referred to in paragraph 2 shall not besubject to payment of a fee.
4. A single application may be made for a change of the
name or address in respect of two or more registrations of thesame holder.
5. If the requirements set out in paragraphs 1 and 2 are not
fulfilled, the Office shall communicate the deficiency to the
applicant.
If the deficiency is not remedied within the time limits specified
by the Office, the Office shall reject the application.
6. Paragraphs 1 to 5 shall apply mutatis mutandis to a change
of the name or address of the registered representative.7. Paragraphs 1 to 6 shall apply mutatis mutandis to applica-
tions for Community designs. The change shall be recorded in
the files kept by the Office concerning the Community designapplication.
Article 20
Correction of mistakes and errors in the Register and in
the publication of the registration
Where the registration of a design or the publication of the
registration contains a mistake or error attributable to the
Office, the Office shall correct the error or mistake of its ownmotion or at the request of the holder.
Where such a request is made by the holder, Article 19 shall
apply mutatis mutandis . The request shall not be subject to
payment of a fee.
The Office shall publish the corrections made pursuant to this
Article.
CHAPTER III
RENEWAL OF REGISTRATION
Article 21
Notification of expiry of registration
At least six months before expiry of the registration, the Officeshall inform the holder, and any person having a right enteredin the Register, including a licence, in respect of the Commu-nity design, that the registration is approaching expiry. Failure
to give notification shall not affect the expiry of the registra-
tion.
Article 22
Renewalof registration
1. An application for renewal of registration shall contain:
(a) where the application is filed by the holder, his/her name
and address in accordance with Article 1(1)(b);
(b) where the application is filed by a person expressly
authorised to do so by the holder, the name and address of
that person and evidence that he/she is authorised to file
the application;
(c) where the applicant has appointed a representative, the
name and business address of the representative in accor-
dance with Article 1(1)(e);
(d) the registration number;
(e) where applicable, an indication that renewal is requested
for all the designs covered by a multiple registration or, ifthe renewal is not requested for all such designs, an indica-
tion of those designs for which renewal is requested.2. The fees payable pursuant to Article 13 of Regulation(EC) No 6/2002 for the renewal of a registration shall consistof:
(a) a renewal fee, which, in cases where several designs are
covered by a multiple registration, shall be proportionate tothe number of designs covered by the renewal;
(b) where applicable, the additional fee for late payment of the
renewal fee or late submission of the request for renewal,pursuant to Article 13 of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002, asspecified in Regulation (EC) No 2246/2002.
3. Where the application for renewal is filed within the timelimits provided for in Article 13(3) of Regulation (EC) No 6/
2002, but the other conditions for renewal provided for in
Article 13 thereof and in this Regulation are not satisfied, theOffice shall inform the applicant of the deficiencies.
If the application is filed by a person whom the holder has
expressly authorised to do so, the holder of the design shall
receive a copy of the notification.
4. Where an application for renewal is not submitted or is
submitted after expiry of the time limit provided for in thesecond sentence of Article 13(3) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002,
or if the fees are not paid or are paid only after expiry of the
relevant time limit, or if the deficiencies are not remediedwithin the time limit specified by the Office, the Office shalldetermine that the registration has expired and shall notifyaccordingly the holder and, where appropriate, the applicant
for renewal and the person recorded in the Register as having
rights in the design.
In the case of a multiple registration, where the fees paid are
insufficient to cover all the designs for which renewal isrequested, such a determination shall be made only after the
Office has established which designs the amount paid is
intended to cover.17.12.2002 L 341/35 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
IP/N/1/EU/D/3 
        - 10 -In the absence of other criteria for determining which designs
are intended to be covered, the Office shall take the designs inthe numerical order in which they are represented in accor-dance with Article 2(4).
The Office shall determine that the registration has expired
with regard to all designs for which the renewal fees have not
been paid or have not been paid in full.5. Where the determination made pursuant to paragraph 4
has become final, the Office shall cancel the design from theRegister with effect from the day following the day on whichthe existing registration expired.
6. Where the renewal fees provided for in paragraph 2 have
been paid but the registration is not renewed, those fees shall
be refunded.
CHAPTER IV
TRANSFER, LICENCES AND OTHER RIGHTS, CHANGES
Article 23
Transfer
1. An application for registration of a transfer pursuant to
Article 28 of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 shall contain:
(a) the registration number of the Community design;
(b) particulars of the new holder in accordance with Article
1(1)(b);
(c) where not all of the designs covered by a multiple registra-
tion are included in the transfer, particulars of the regis-tered designs to which the transfer relates;
(d) documents duly establishing the transfer.
2. The application may contain, where applicable, the nameand business address of the representative of the new holder, tobe set out in accordance with Article 1(1)(e).
3. The application shall not be deemed to have been filed
until the required fee has been paid. If the fee is not paid or is
not paid in full, the Office shall notify the applicant accord-
ingly.
4. The following shall constitute sufficient proof of transfer
under paragraph 1(d):
(a) the application for registration of the transfer is signed by
the registered holder or his/her representative and by the
successor in title or his/her representative; or
(b) the application, if submitted by the successor in title, is
accompanied by a declaration, signed by the registered
holder or his/her representative, that he/she agrees to theregistration of the successor in title; or
(c) the application is accompanied by a completed transfer
form or document, signed by the registered holder or his/her representative and by the successor in title or his/herrepresentative.
5. Where the conditions applicable to the registration of atransfer are not fulfilled, the Office shall notify the applicant of
the deficiencies.
If the deficiencies are not remedied within the time limit speci-
fied by the Office, it shall reject the application for registrationof the transfer.
6. A single application for registration of a transfer may be
submitted for two or more registered Community designs,
provided that the registered holder and the successor in title
are the same in each case.7. Paragraphs 1 to 6 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the
transfer of applications for registered Community designs. Thetransfer shall be recorded in the files kept by the Officeconcerning the Community design application.
Article 24
Registration of licences and other rights
1. Article 23(1)(a), (b) and (c) and Article 23(2), (3), (5) and(6) shall apply mutatis mutandis to the registration of the grant
or transfer of a licence, to registration of the creation ortransfer of a right in remin respect of a registered Community
design, and to registration of enforcement measures. However,where a registered Community design is involved in insolvencyproceedings, the request of the competent national authorityfor an entry in the Register to this effect shall not be subject to
payment of a fee.
In the case of a multiple registration, each registered Commu-
nity design may, separately from the others, be licensed, the
subject of a right in rem, levy of execution or insolvency
proceedings.
2. Where the registered Community design is licensed for
only a part of the Community, or for a limited period of time,the application for registration of the licence shall indicate thepart of the Community or the period of time for which thelicence is granted.
3. Where the conditions applicable to registration of licences
and other rights, set out in Articles 29, 30 or 32 of Regulation
(EC) No 6/2002, in paragraph 1 of this Article, and in the other
applicable Articles of this Regulation are not fulfilled, the Officeshall notify the applicant of the deficiencies.
If the deficiencies are not remedied within a time limit specified
by the Office, it shall reject the application for registration.
4. Paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall apply mutatis mutandis to
licences and other rights concerning applications for registered
Community designs. Licences, rights in remand enforcement
measures shall be recorded in the files kept by the Officeconcerning the Community design application.
5. The request for a non-exclusive licence pursuant to
Article 16(2) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 shall be made
within three months of the date of the entry in the Register of
the newly entitled holder.17.12.2002 L 341/36 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
IP/N/1/EU/D/3 
        - 11 -Article 25
Specialprovisions for the registration of a l icence
1. A licence in respect of a registered Community design
shall be recorded in the Register as an exclusive licence if theholder of the design or the licensee so requests.
2. A licence in respect of a registered Community design
shall be recorded in the Register as a sub-licence where it is
granted by a licensee whose licence is recorded in the Register.
3. A licence in respect of a registered Community design
shall be recorded in the Register as a territorially limited licenceif it is granted for a part of the Community.
4. A licence in respect of a registered Community design
shall be recorded in the Register as a temporary licence if it isgranted for a limited period of time.
Article 26
Cancellation or modification of the registration of licences
and other rights
1. A registration effected under Article 24 shall be cancelled
upon application by one of the persons concerned.
2. The application shall contain:
(a) the registration number of the registered Community
design, or in the case of a multiple registration, the number
of each design; and(b) particulars of the right whose registration is to be
cancelled.
3. Application for cancellation of the registration of alicence or other right shall not be deemed to have been fileduntil the required fee has been paid.
If the fee is not paid or is not paid in full, the Office shall notify
the applicant accordingly. A request from a competent nationalauthority for cancellation of an entry where a registeredCommunity design is involved in insolvency proceedings shall
not be subject to payment of a fee.
4. The application shall be accompanied by documents
showing that the registered right no longer exists or by a state-
ment by the licensee or the holder of another right to the effect
that he/she consents to cancellation of the registration.
5. Where the requirements for cancellation of the registra-
tion are not satisfied, the Office shall notify the applicant of thedeficiencies. If the deficiencies are not remedied within the timelimit specified by the Office, it shall reject the application forcancellation of the registration.
6. Paragraphs 1, 2, 4 and 5 shall apply mutatis mutandis to a
request for modification of a registration effected pursuant to
Article 24.
7. Paragraphs 1 to 6 shall apply mutatis mutandis to entries
made in the files pursuant to Article 24(4).
CHAPTER V
SURRENDER AND INVALIDITY
Article 27
Surrender
1. A declaration of surrender pursuant to Article 51 of
Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 shall contain:
(a) the registration number of the registered Community
design;
(b) the name and address of the holder in accordance with
Article 1(1)(b);
(c) where a representative has been appointed, the name and
business address of the representative in accordance withArticle 1(1)(e);
(d) where surrender is declared only for some of the designs
contained in a multiple registration, an indication of thedesigns for which the surrender is declared or the designswhich are to remain registered;
(e) where, pursuant to Article 51(3) of Regulation (EC) No 6/
2002, the registered Community design is partially surren-
dered, a representation of the amended design in accor-
dance with Article 4 of this Regulation.
2. Where a right of a third party relating to the registeredCommunity design is entered in the Register, it shall be suffi-cient proof of his/her agreement to the surrender that a
declaration of consent to the surrender is signed by the holder
of that right or his/her representative.Where a licence has been registered, surrender of the designshall be registered three months after the date on which the
holder satisfies the Office that he/she has informed the licensee
of his/her intention to surrender it. If the holder proves to theOffice before the expiry of that period that the licensee hasgiven his/her consent, the surrender shall be registered forth-with.
3. Where a claim relating to the entitlement to a registered
Community design has been brought before a court pursuant
to Article 15 of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002, a declaration of
consent to the surrender, signed by the claimant or his/herrepresentative, shall be sufficient proof of his/her agreement tothe surrender.
4. If the requirements governing surrender are not fulfilled,
the Office shall communicate the deficiencies to the declarant.If the deficiencies are not remedied within the time limit speci-fied by the Office, the Office shall reject the entry of the
surrender in the Register.
Article 28
Application for a declaration of invalidity
1. An application to the Office for a declaration of invaliditypursuant to Article 52 of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 shall
contain:17.12.2002 L 341/37 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
IP/N/1/EU/D/3 
        - 12 -(a) as concerns the registered Community design for which the
declaration of invalidity is sought:
(i) its registration number;
(ii) the name and address of its holder;
(b) as regards the grounds on which the application is based:
(i) a statement of the grounds on which the application
for a declaration of invalidity is based;
(ii) additionally, in the case of an application pursuant to
Article 25(1)(d) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002, the
representation and particulars identifying the priordesign on which the application for a declaration ofinvalidity is based and showing that the applicant isentitled to invoke the earlier design as a ground for
invalidity pursuant to Article 25(3) of that Regulation;
(iii) additionally, in the case of an application pursuant to
Article 25(1)(e) or (f) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002,
the representation and particulars identifying thedistinctive sign or the work protected by copyright onwhich the application for a declaration of invalidity isbased and particulars showing that the applicant is the
holder of the earlier right pursuant to Article 25(3) of
that Regulation;
(iv) additionally, in the case of an application pursuant to
Article 25(1)(g) of the Regulation (EC) No 6/2002, therepresentation and particulars of the relevant item asreferred to in that Article and particulars showing thatthe application is filed by the person or entityconcerned by the improper use pursuant to Article
25(4) of that Regulation;
(v) where the ground for invalidity is that the registered
Community design does not fulfil the requirements setout in Article 5 or 6 of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002,
the indication and the reproduction of the priordesigns that could form an obstacle to the novelty orindividual character of the registered Communitydesign, as well as documents proving the existence of
those earlier designs;
(vi) an indication of the facts, evidence and arguments
submitted in support of those grounds;
(c) as concerns the applicant:
(i) his/her name and address in accordance with Article
1(1)(b);
(ii) if the applicant has appointed a representative, the
name and the business address of the representative, in
accordance with Article 1(1)(e);
(iii) additionally, in the case of an application pursuant to
Article 25(1)(c) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002, particu-lars showing that the application is made by a personor by persons duly entitled pursuant to Article 25(2) ofthat Regulation.
2. The application shall be subject to the fee referred to in
Article 52(2) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002.
3. The Office shall inform the holder that an application for
declaration of invalidity has been filed.Article 29
Languages used in invalidity proceedings
1. The application for a declaration of invalidity shall be
filed in the language of proceedings pursuant to Article 98(4)
of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002.
2. Where the language of proceedings is not the language
used for filing the application and the holder has filed his/herobservations in the language of filing, the Office shall arrange
to have those observations translated into the language of
proceedings.
3. Three years after the date fixed in accordance with Article
111(2) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002, the Commission willsubmit to the Committee mentioned in Article 109 of Regula-
tion (EC) No 6/2002 a report on the application of paragraph
2 of this Article and, if appropriate, proposals for fixing a limitfor the expenses borne by the Office in this respect as providedfor in the fourth subparagraph of Article 98(4) of Regulation(EC) No 6/2002.
4. The Commission may decide to submit the report and
possible proposals referred to in paragraph 3 at an earlier date,and the Committee shall discuss them as a matter of priority ifthe facilities in paragraph 2 lead to disproportionate expendi-ture.
5. Where the evidence in support of the application is not
filed in the language of the invalidity proceedings, the applicantshall file a translation of that evidence into that language withintwo months of the filing of such evidence.
6. Where the applicant for a declaration of invalidity or the
holder informs the Office, within two months of receipt by theholder of the communication referred to in Article 31(1) of thisRegulation, that they have agreed on a different language ofproceedings pursuant to Article 98(5) of Regulation (EC) No 6/
2002, the applicant shall, where the application was not filed
in that language, file a translation of the application in thatlanguage within one month of the said date.
Article 30
Rejection of the application for declaration of invalidity as
inadmissible
1. If the Office finds that the application for declaration ofinvalidity does not comply with Article 52 of Regulation (EC)
No 6/2002, Article 28(1) of this Regulation or any other provi-
sion of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 or this Regulation, it shallinform the applicant accordingly and shall call upon him/her toremedy the deficiencies within such time limit as it mayspecify.
If the deficiencies are not remedied within the specified time
limit, the Office shall reject the application as inadmissible.17.12.2002 L 341/38 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
IP/N/1/EU/D/3 
        - 13 -2. Where the Office finds that the required fees have not
been paid, it shall inform the applicant accordingly and shallinform him/her that the application will be deemed not to havebeen filed if the required fees are not paid within a specifiedtime limit.
If the required fees are paid after the expiry of the time limit
specified, they shall be refunded to the applicant.
3. Any decision to reject an application for a declaration of
invalidity pursuant to paragraph 1 shall be communicated to
the applicant.
Where, pursuant to paragraph 2, an application is deemed not
to have been filed, the applicant shall be informed accordingly.
Article 31
Examination of the application for a declaration of inva-
lidity
1. If the Office does not reject the application for declaration
of invalidity in accordance with Article 30, it shall communi-cate such application to the holder and shall request him/her tofile his/her observations within such time limits as it mayspecify.
2. If the holder files no observations, the Office may base its
decision concerning invalidity on the evidence before it.
3. Any observations filed by the holder shall be communi-
cated to the applicant, who may be called upon by the Office
to reply within specified time limits.
4. All communications pursuant to Article 53(2) of Regula-
tion (EC) No 6/2002 and all observations filed in that respect
shall be sent to the parties concerned.
5. The Office may call upon the parties to make a friendly
settlement.Article 32
Multiple applications for a declaration of invalidity
1. Where a number of applications for a declaration of inva-lidity have been filed relating to the same registered Commu-nity design, the Office may deal with them in one set ofproceedings.
The Office may subsequently decide no longer to deal with
them in that way.
2. If a preliminary examination of one or more applications
reveals that the registered Community design may be invalid,the Office may suspend the other invalidity proceedings.
The Office shall inform the remaining applicants of any rele-
vant decisions taken during such proceedings as are continued.
3. Once a decision declaring the invalidity of the design has
become final, the applications in respect of which the proceed-ings have been suspended in accordance with paragraph 2 shall
be deemed to have been disposed of and the applicants
concerned shall be informed accordingly. Such disposition shallbe considered to constitute a case which has not proceeded tojudgment for the purposes of Article 70(4) of Regulation (EC)No 6/2002.
4. The Office shall refund 50% of the invalidity fee referred
to in Article 52(2) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 paid by each
applicant whose application is deemed to have been disposedof in accordance with paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of this Article.
Article 33
Participation of an alleged infringer
Where, pursuant to Article 54 of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002,an alleged infringer seeks to join the proceedings, he/she shallbe subject to the relevant provisions of Articles 28, 29 and 30of this Regulation, and shall in particular file a reasoned state-
ment and pay the fee referred to in Article 52(2) of Regulation
(EC) No 6/2002.
CHAPTER VI
APPEALS
Article 34
Content of the notice of appeal
1. The notice of appeal shall contain:
(a) the name and address of the appellant in accordance with
Article 1(1)(b);
(b) where the appellant has appointed a representative, the
name and the business address of the representative inaccordance with Article 1(1)(e);
(c) a statement identifying the decision which is contested and
the extent to which amendment or cancellation of the deci-sion is requested.
2. The notice of appeal shall be filed in the language of the
proceedings in which the decision subject to the appeal was
taken.Article 35
Rejection of the appealas inadmissibl e
1. If the appeal does not comply with Articles 55, 56 and57 of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 and Article 34(1)(c) and (2)of this Regulation, the Board of Appeal shall reject it as inad-
missible, unless each deficiency has been remedied before the
relevant time limit laid down in Article 57 of Regulation (EC)No 6/2002 has expired.
2. If the Board of Appeal finds that the appeal does not
comply with other provisions of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 orother provisions of this Regulation, in particular with Article34(1)(a) and (b), it shall inform the appellant accordingly andshall request him/her to remedy the deficiencies noted withinsuch time limit as it may specify. If the deficiencies are not
remedied in good time, the Board of Appeal shall reject the
appeal as inadmissible.17.12.2002 L 341/39 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
IP/N/1/EU/D/3 
        - 14 -3. If the fee for appeal has been paid after expiry of the time
limits for the filing of an appeal pursuant to Article 57 ofRegulation (EC) No 6/2002, the appeal shall be deemed not tohave been filed and the appeal fee shall be refunded to theappellant.
Article 36
Examination of appeals
1. Save as otherwise provided, the provisions relating to
proceedings before the department which has made the deci-
sion against which the appeal is brought shall be applicable toappeal proceedings mutatis mutandis .
2. The Board of Appeal's decision shall contain:
(a) a statement that it is delivered by the Board;
(b) the date when the decision was taken;
(c) the names of the Chairman and the other members of the
Board of Appeal taking part;
(d) the name of the competent employee of the registry;(e) the names of the parties and of their representatives;
(f) a statement of the issues to be decided;
(g) a summary of the facts;
(h) the reasons;
(i) the order of the Board of Appeal, including, where neces-
sary, a decision on costs.
3. The decision shall be signed by the Chairman and theother members of the Board of Appeal and by the employee ofthe registry of the Board of Appeal.
Article 37
Reimbursement of appealfees
The reimbursement of appeal fees shall be ordered in the eventof interlocutory revision or where the Board of Appeal deemsan appeal to be allowable, if such reimbursement is equitableby reason of a substantial procedural violation. In the event of
interlocutory revision, reimbursement shall be ordered by the
department whose decision has been impugned, and in othercases by the Board of Appeal.
CHAPTER VII
DECISIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS OF THE OFFICE
Article 38
Form of decisions
1. Decisions of the Office shall be in writing and shall statethe reasons on which they are based.
Where oral proceedings are held before the Office, the decision
may be given orally. Subsequently, the decision in writing shallbe notified to the parties.
2. Decisions of the Office which are open to appeal shall be
accompanied by a written communication indicating thatnotice of appeal must be filed in writing at the Office within
two months of the date of notification of the decision from
which appeal is to be made. The communications shall alsodraw the attention of the parties to the provisions laid down inArticles 55, 56 and 57 of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002.
The parties may not plead any failure to communicate the
availability of such appeal proceedings.
Article 39
Correction of errors in decisions
In decisions of the Office, only linguistic errors, errors of tran-scription and obvious mistakes may be corrected. They shall be
corrected by the department which took the decision, acting of
its own motion or at the request of an interested party.Article 40
Noting of loss of rights
1. If the Office finds that the loss of any rights results fromRegulation (EC) No 6/2002 or this Regulation without anydecision having been taken, it shall communicate this to theperson concerned in accordance with Article 66 of Regulation
(EC) No 6/2002, and shall draw his/her attention to the legal
remedies set out in paragraph 2 of this Article.
2. If the person concerned considers that the finding of the
Office is inaccurate, he/she may, within two months of notifica-
tion of the communication referred to in paragraph 1, applyfor a decision on the matter by the Office.
Such decision shall be given only if the Office disagrees with
the person requesting it; otherwise the Office shall amend its
finding and inform the person requesting the decision.
Article 41
Signature, name, seal
1. Any decision, communication or notice from the Officeshall indicate the department or division of the Office as wellas the name or the names of the official or officials responsible.They shall be signed by the official or officials, or, instead of asignature, carry a printed or stamped seal of the Office.
2. The President of the Office may determine that other
means of identifying the department or division of the Officeand the name of the official or officials responsible or an identi-fication other than a seal may be used where decisions,
communications or notices are transmitted by fax or any other
technical means of communication.17.12.2002 L 341/40 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
IP/N/1/EU/D/3 
        - 15 -CHAPTER VIII
ORAL PROCEEDINGS AND TAKING OF EVIDENCE
Article 42
Summons to oralproceedings
1. The parties shall be summoned to oral proceedings
provided for in Article 64 of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 andtheir attention shall be drawn to paragraph 3 of this Article. At
least one month's notice of the summons shall be given unless
the parties agree to a shorter time limit.
2. When issuing the summons, the Office shall draw atten-
tion to the points which in its opinion need to be discussed inorder for the decision to be taken.
3. If a party who has been duly summoned to oral proceed-
ings before the Office does not appear as summoned, theproceedings may continue without him/her.
Article 43
Taking of evidence by the Office
1. Where the Office considers it necessary to hear the oralevidence of parties, of witnesses or of experts or to carry outan inspection, it shall take a decision to that end, stating the
means by which it intends to obtain evidence, the relevant facts
to be proved and the date, time and place of the hearing orinspection.
If oral evidence from witnesses and experts is requested by a
party, the decision of the Office shall determine the period of
time within which the party filing the request must make
known to the Office the names and addresses of the witnessesand experts whom the party wishes to be heard.
2. The period of notice given in the summons of a party,
witness or expert to give evidence shall be at least one month,
unless they agree to a shorter time limit.
The summons shall contain:
(a) an extract from the decision mentioned in the first subpara-
graph of paragraph 1, indicating in particular the date, time
and place of the hearing ordered and stating the factsregarding which the parties, witnesses and experts are to beheard;
(b) the names of the parties to proceedings and particulars of
the rights which the witnesses or experts may invokepursuant to Article 45(2) to (5).
Article 44
Commissioning of experts
1. The Office shall decide in what form the report made byan expert whom it appoints shall be submitted.
2. The terms of reference of the expert shall include:
(a) a precise description of his/her task;
(b) the time limit laid down for the submission of the expert's
report;
(c) the names of the parties to the proceedings;(d) particulars of the claims which the expert may invoke
pursuant to Article 45(2), (3) and (4).
3. A copy of any written report shall be submitted to the
parties.
4. The parties may object to an expert on grounds of incom-
petence or on the same grounds as those on which objectionmay be made to an examiner or to a member of a Division orBoard of Appeal pursuant to Article 132(1) and (3) of CouncilRegulation (EC) No 40/94(
1). The department of the Office
concerned shall rule on the objection.
Article 45
Costs of taking of evidence
1. The taking of evidence by the Office may be made condi-tional upon deposit with it, by the party who has requested the
evidence to be taken, of a sum which shall be fixed by refer-
ence to an estimate of the costs.
2. Witnesses and experts who are summoned by and appear
before the Office shall be entitled to reimbursement of reason-able expenses for travel and subsistence. An advance for thoseexpenses may be granted to them by the Office. The firstsentence shall apply also to witnesses and experts who appear
before the Office without being summoned by it and who are
heard as witnesses or experts.
3. Witnesses entitled to reimbursement under paragraph 2
shall also be entitled to appropriate compensation for loss ofearnings, and experts shall be entitled to fees for their services.Those payments shall be made to the witnesses and expertsafter they have fulfilled their duties or tasks, where such
witnesses and experts have been summoned by the Office on
its own initiative.
4. The amounts and the advances for expenses to be paid
pursuant to paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall be determined by thePresident of the Office and shall be published in the OfficialJournal of the Office.
The amounts shall be calculated on the same basis as the
compensation and salaries received by officials in grades A 4 to
A 8 as laid down in the Staff Regulations of officials of the
European Communities and in Annex VII thereto.
5. Final liability for the amounts due or paid pursuant to
paragraphs 1 to 4 shall lie with:
(a) the Office where the Office, on its own initiative, consid-
ered it necessary to hear the oral evidence of witnesses orexperts; or
(b) the party concerned where that party requested the giving
of oral evidence by witnesses or experts, subject to the deci-sion on apportionment and fixing of costs pursuant to Arti-cles 70 and 71 of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 and Article79 of this Regulation.
The party referred to in point (b) of the first subparagraph shall
reimburse the Office for any advances duly paid.17.12.2002 L 341/41 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
(1) OJ L 11, 14.1.1994, p. 1.
IP/N/1/EU/D/3 
        - 16 -Article 46
Minutes of oralproceedings and of evidence
1. Minutes of oral proceedings or the taking of evidence
shall be drawn up, containing the essentials of the oral proceed-ings or of the taking of evidence, the relevant statements madeby the parties, the testimony of the parties, witnesses or experts
and the result of any inspection.
2. The minutes of the testimony of a witness, expert or
party shall be read out or submitted to him/her so that he/shemay examine them. It shall be noted in the minutes that thisformality has been carried out and that the person who gavethe testimony approved the minutes. Where his/her approval isnot given, his/her objections shall be noted.3. The minutes shall be signed by the employee who drewthem up and by the employee who conducted the oral proceed-ings or taking of evidence.
4. The parties shall be provided with a copy of the minutes.5. Upon request, the Office shall make available to the
parties transcripts of recordings of the oral proceedings, in
typescript or in any other machine-readable form.
The release of transcripts of those recordings shall be subject to
the payment of the costs incurred by the Office in making suchtranscript. The amount to be charged shall be determined bythe President of the Office.
CHAPTER IX
NOTIFICATIONS
Article 47
Generalprovisions on notifications
1. In proceedings before the Office, any notifications to bemade by the Office shall take the form of the original docu-ment, of a copy thereof certified by, or bearing the seal of, theOffice or of a computer print-out bearing such seal. Copies ofdocuments emanating from the parties themselves shall not
require such certification.
2. Notifications shall be made:
(a) by post in accordance with Article 48;
(b) by hand delivery in accordance with Article 49;
(c) by deposit in a post box at the Office in accordance with
Article 50;
(d) by fax and other technical means in accordance with
Article 51;
(e) by public notification in accordance with Article 52.
Article 48
Notification by post
1. Decisions subject to a time limit for appeal, summonses
and other documents as determined by the President of theOffice shall be notified by registered letter with acknowledge-ment of delivery.
Decisions and communications subject to another time limit
shall be notified by registered letter, unless the President of theOffice determines otherwise.
All other communications shall be ordinary mail.2. Notifications to addressees having neither their domicile
nor their principal place of business nor an establishment inthe Community and who have not appointed a representativein accordance with Article 77(2) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002shall be effected by posting the document requiring notification
by ordinary mail to the last address of the addressee known to
the Office.Notification shall be deemed to have been effected when the
posting has taken place.
3. Where notification is effected by registered letter, whether
or not with acknowledgement of delivery, it shall be deemed tobe delivered to the addressee on the 10th day following that ofits posting, unless the letter has failed to reach the addressee orhas reached him/her at a later date.
In the event of any dispute, it shall be for the Office to establish
that the letter has reached its destination or to establish thedate on which it was delivered to the addressee, as the casemay be.
4. Notification by registered letter, with or without acknowl-
edgement of delivery, shall be deemed to have been effected
even if the addressee refuses to accept the letter.
5. To the extent that notification by post is not covered by
paragraphs 1 to 4, the law of the State on the territory ofwhich notification is made shall apply.
Article 49
Notification by hand delivery
Notification may be effected on the premises of the Office byhand delivery of the document to the addressee, who shall ondelivery acknowledge its receipt.
Article 50
Notification by deposit in a post box at the Office
Notification may also be effected to addressees who have beenprovided with a post box at the Office, by depositing the docu-ment therein. A written notification of deposit shall be insertedin the files. The date of deposit shall be recorded on the docu-ment. Notification shall be deemed to have taken place on the
fifth day following deposit of the document in the post box at
the Office.17.12.2002 L 341/42 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
IP/N/1/EU/D/3 
        - 17 -Article 51
Notification by fax and other technicalmeans
1. Notification by fax shall be effected by transmitting either
the original or a copy, as provided for in Article 47(1), of thedocument to be notified. The details of such transmission shallbe determined by the President of the Office.
2. Details of notification by other technical means of
communication shall be determined by the President of the
Office.
Article 52
Public notification
1. If the address of the addressee cannot be established, or ifnotification in accordance with Article 48(1) has proved to beimpossible even after a second attempt by the Office, notifica-tion shall be effected by public notice.
Such notice shall be published at least in the Community Designs
Bulletin.
2. The President of the Office shall determine how the
public notice is to be given and shall fix the beginning of the
time limit of one month on the expiry of which the documentshall be deemed to have been notified.
Article 53
Notification to representatives
1. If a representative has been appointed or where the appli-cant first named in a common application is considered to bethe common representative pursuant to Article 61(1), notifica-tions shall be addressed to that appointed or common represen-tative.2. If several representatives have been appointed for a singleinterested party, notification to any one of them shall be suffi-cient, unless a specific address for service has been indicated inaccordance with Article 1(1)(e).
3. If several interested parties have appointed a common
representative, notification of a single document to thecommon representative shall be sufficient.
Article 54
Irregularities in notification
Where a document has reached the addressee, if the Office isunable to prove that it has been duly notified or if provisionsrelating to its notification have not been observed, the docu-ment shall be deemed to have been notified on the date estab-
lished by the Office as the date of receipt.
Article 55
Notification of documents in the case of severalparties
Documents emanating from parties which contain substantive
proposals, or a declaration of withdrawal of a substantiveproposal, shall be notified to the other parties as a matter ofcourse. Notification may be dispensed with where the docu-ment contains no new pleadings and the matter is ready fordecision.
CHAPTER X
TIME LIMITS
Article 56
Calculation of time limits
1. Time limits shall be laid down in terms of full years,months, weeks or days.
2. The beginning of any time limit shall be calculated
starting on the day following the day on which the relevant
event occurred, the event being either a procedural step or the
expiry of another time limit. Where that procedural step is anotification, the event considered shall be the receipt of thedocument notified, unless otherwise provided.
3. Where a time limit is expressed as one year or a certain
number of years, it shall expire in the relevant subsequent yearin the month having the same name and on the day having the
same number as the month and the day on which the relevant
event occurred. Where the relevant month has no day with thesame number the time limit shall expire on the last day of thatmonth.
4. Where a time limit is expressed as one month or a certain
number of months, it shall expire in the relevant subsequentmonth on the day which has the same number as the day on
which the relevant event occurred. Where the day on which
the relevant event occurred was the last day of a month orwhere the relevant subsequent month has no day with the same
number the time limit shall expire on the last day of that
month.
5. Where a time limit is expressed as one week or a certain
number of weeks, it shall expire in the relevant subsequentweek on the day having the same name as the day on whichthe relevant event occurred.
Article 57
Duration of time limits
1. Where Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 or this Regulation
provide for a time limit to be specified by the Office, such time
limit shall, when the party concerned has its domicile or itsprincipal place of business or an establishment within theCommunity, be not less than one month, or, when those condi-tions are not fulfilled, not less than two months, and no morethan six months.
The Office may, when this is appropriate under the circum-
stances, grant an extension of a time limit specified if such
extension is requested by the party concerned and the request
is submitted before the original time limit expires.17.12.2002 L 341/43 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
IP/N/1/EU/D/3 
        - 18 -2.Where there are two or more parties, the Office may
make the extension of a time limit subject to the agreement of
the other parties.
Article 58
Expiry of time limits in special cases
1. If a time limit expires on a day on which the Office is notopen for receipt of documents or on which, for reasons otherthan those referred to in paragraph 2, ordinary mail is not
delivered in the locality in which the Office is located, the time
limit shall extend until the first day thereafter on which theOffice is open for receipt of documents and on which ordinarymail is delivered.
The days on which the Office is not open for receipt of docu-
ments shall be determined by the President of the Office beforethe commencement of each calendar year.
2. If a time limit expires on a day on which there is a
general interruption or subsequent dislocation in the delivery
of mail in a Member State or between a Member State and theOffice, the time limit shall extend until the first day followingthe end of the period of interruption or dislocation, for partieshaving their residence or registered office in the State
concerned or who have appointed representatives with a place
of business in that State.In the event of the Member State concerned being the State inwhich the Office is located, the first subparagraph shall applyto all parties.
The period referred to in the first subparagraph shall be as
determined by the President of the Office.
3. Paragraphs 1 and 2 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the
time limits provided for in Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 or this
Regulation in the case of transactions to be carried out withthe competent authority within the meaning of Article 35(1)(b)and (c) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002.
4. If an exceptional occurrence such as natural disaster or
strike interrupts or dislocates the proper functioning of the
Office so that any communication from the Office to parties
concerning the expiry of a time limit is delayed, acts to becompleted within such a time limit may still be validlycompleted within one month of the notification of the delayedcommunication.
The date of commencement and the end of any such interrup-
tion or dislocation shall be as determined by the President of
the Office.
CHAPTER XI
INTERRUPTION OF PROCEEDINGS AND WAIVING OF ENFORCED RECOVERY PROCEDURES
Article 59
Interruption of proceedings
1. Proceedings before the Office shall be interrupted:
(a) in the event of the death or legal incapacity of the applicant
for or holder of a registered Community design or of theperson authorised by national law to act on his/her behalf;
(b) in the event that the applicant for or holder of a registered
Community design is, as a result of some action takenagainst his/her property, prevented for legal reasons fromcontinuing the proceedings before the Office;
(c) in the event of the death or legal incapacity of the represen-
tative of an applicant for or holder of a registered Commu-
nity design or of his/her being prevented for legal reasons
resulting from action taken against his/her property fromcontinuing the proceedings before the Office.
To the extent that the events referred to in point (a) of the first
subparagraph do not affect the authorisation of a representative
appointed under Article 78 of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002,proceedings shall be interrupted only on application by suchrepresentative.
2. When, in the cases referred to in points (a) and (b) of the
first subparagraph of paragraph 1, the Office has beeninformed of the identity of the person authorised to continuethe proceedings before the Office, the Office shall communicateto such person and to any interested third parties that the
proceedings shall be resumed as from a date to be fixed by the
Office.
3. In the case referred to in paragraph 1(c), the proceedings
shall be resumed when the Office has been informed of the
appointment of a new representative of the applicant or whenthe Office has notified to the other parties the communicationof the appointment of a new representative of the holder of thedesign.
If, three months after the beginning of the interruption of the
proceedings, the Office has not been informed of the appoint-ment of a new representative, it shall communicate that fact tothe applicant for or holder of the registered Community design:
(a) where Article 77(2) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 is applic-
able, that the Community design application will bedeemed to be withdrawn if the information is not
submitted within two months after that communication is
notified; or
(b) where Article 77(2) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 is not
applicable, that the proceedings will be resumed with theapplicant for or holder as from the date on which thatcommunication is notified.
4. The time limits, other than the time limit for paying therenewal fees, in force as regards the applicant for or holder ofthe Community design at the date of interruption of theproceedings, shall begin again as from the day on which theproceedings are resumed.
Article 60
Waiving of enforced recovery procedures
The President of the Office may waive action for the enforced
recovery of any sum due where the sum to be recovered is
minimal or where such recovery is too uncertain.17.12.2002 L 341/44 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
IP/N/1/EU/D/3 
        - 19 -CHAPTER XII
REPRESENTATION
Article 61
Appointment of a common representative
1. If there is more than one applicant and the application
for a registered Community design does not name a common
representative, the applicant first named in the application shall
be considered to be the common representative.
However, if one of the applicants is obliged to appoint a
professional representative, such representative shall be consid-ered to be the common representative unless the applicant
named first in the application has also appointed a professional
representative.
The first and second subparagraphs shall apply mutatis mutandis
to third parties acting in common in applying for a declaration
of invalidity, and to joint holders of a registered Community
design.
2. If, during the course of proceedings, transfer is made to
more than one person, and such persons have not appointed a
common representative, paragraph 1 shall apply.
If such application is not possible, the Office shall require such
persons to appoint a common representative within twomonths. If this request is not complied with, the Office shall
appoint the common representative.
Article 62
Authorisations
1. Legal practitioners and professional representatives
entered on the lists maintained by the Office pursuant toArticle 78(1)(b) or (c) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 may file
with the Office a signed authorisation for inclusion in the files.
Such authorisation shall be filed if the Office expressly requires
it or, where there are several parties to the proceedings inwhich the representative acts before the Office, one of the
parties expressly request it.
2. Employees acting on behalf of natural or legal persons
pursuant to Article 77(3) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 shallfile with the Office a signed authorisation for insertion in thefiles.
3. The authorisation may be filed in any of the official
languages of the Community. It may cover one or more appli-cations or registered Community designs or may be in the formof a general authorisation allowing the representative to act in
respect of all proceedings before the Office to which the person
who has issued it is a party.
4. Where, pursuant to paragraphs 1 or 2, an authorisation
has to be filed, the Office shall specify a time limit within
which such authorisation shall be filed. If the authorisation is
not filed in due time, proceedings shall be continued with therepresented person. Any procedural steps other than the filing
of the application taken by the representative shall be deemed
not to have been taken if the represented person does notapprove them. The application of Article 77(2) of Regulation(EC) No 6/2002 shall remain unaffected.
5. Paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall apply mutatis mutandis to a
document withdrawing an authorisation.6. Any representative who has ceased to be authorised shall
continue to be regarded as the representative until the termina-tion of his/her authorisation has been communicated to theOffice.
7. Subject to any provisions to the contrary contained
therein, an authorisation shall not terminate vis-à-vis the Officeupon the death of the person who gave it.
8. Where several representatives are appointed by the same
party, they may, notwithstanding any provisions to the
contrary in their authorisations, act either collectively or indivi-
dually.
9. The authorisation of an association of representatives
shall be deemed to be an authorisation of any representative
who can establish that he/she practises within that association.
Article 63
Representation
Any notification or other communication addressed by theOffice to the duly authorised representative shall have the sameeffect as if it had been addressed to the represented person.
Any communication addressed to the Office by the duly
authorised representative shall have the same effect as if itoriginated from the represented person.
Article 64
Amendment of the speciall ist of professionalrepresenta-
tives for design matters
1. The entry of a professional representative in the speciallist of professional representatives for design matters, asreferred to in Article 78(4) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002, shall
be deleted at his/her request.
2. The entry of a professional representative shall be deleted
automatically:
(a) in the event of the death or legal incapacity of the profes-
sional representative;
(b) where the professional representative is no longer a
national of a Member State, unless the President of theOffice has granted an exemption pursuant to Article
78(6)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002;17.12.2002 L 341/45 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
IP/N/1/EU/D/3 
        - 20 -(c) where the professional representative no longer has his/her
place of business or employment in the Community;
(d) where the professional representative no longer possesses
the entitlement referred to in the first sentence of Article
78(4)(c) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002.
3. The entry of a professional representative shall besuspended of the Office's own motion where his/her entitle-
ment to represent natural or legal persons before the Benelux
Design Office or the central industrial property office of theMember State as referred to in the first sentence of Article78(4)(c) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 has been suspended.4. A person whose entry has been deleted shall, uponrequest pursuant to Article 78(5) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002, be reinstated in the list of professional representatives ifthe conditions for deletion no longer exist.
5. The Benelux Design Office and the central industrial
property offices of the Member States concerned shall, where
they are aware thereof, promptly inform the Office of any rele-
vant events referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3.
6. The amendments of the special list of professional repre-
sentatives for design matters shall be published in the OfficialJournal of the Office.
CHAPTER XIII
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS AND FORMS
Article 65
Communication in writing or by other means
1. Subject to paragraph 2, applications for the registrationof a Community design as well as any other application or
declaration provided for in Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 and all
other communications addressed to the Office shall besubmitted as follows:
(a) by submitting a signed original of the document in ques-
tion to the Office, by post, personal delivery, or by anyother means; annexes to documents submitted need not besigned;
(b) by transmitting a signed original by fax in accordance with
Article 66; or
(c) by transmitting the contents of the communication by elec-
tronic means in accordance with Article 67.
2. Where the applicant avails himself of the possibilityprovided for in Article 36(1)(c) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002of filing a specimen of the design, the application and thespecimen shall be submitted to the Office by a single mail inthe form prescribed in paragraph 1(a) of this Article. If theapplication and the specimen, or specimens in the case of a
multiple application, are not submitted by a single mail the
Office shall not give a filing date until the last item has beenreceived pursuant to Article 10(1) of this Regulation.
Article 66
Communication by fax
1. Where an application for registration of a Communitydesign is submitted by fax and the application contains a repro-duction of the design pursuant to Article 4(1) which does notsatisfy the requirements of that Article, the required reproduc-
tion suitable for registration and publication shall be submitted
to the Office in accordance with Article 65(1)(a).
Where the reproduction is received by the Office within a time
limit of one month from the date of the receipt of the fax, the
application shall be deemed to have been received by the Office
on the date on which the fax was received.Where the reproduction is received by the Office after theexpiry of that time limit, the application shall be deemed to
have been received by the Office on the date on which the
reproduction was received.
2. Where a communication received by fax is incomplete or
illegible, or where the Office has reasonable doubts as to theaccuracy of the transmission, the Office shall inform the senderaccordingly and shall call upon him/her, within a time limit to
be specified by the Office, to retransmit the original by fax or
to submit the original in accordance with Article 65(1)(a).
Where that request is complied with within the time limit
specified, the date of the receipt of the retransmission or of theoriginal shall be deemed to be the date of the receipt of theoriginal communication, provided that where the deficiency
concerns the granting of a filing date for an application to
register a Community design, the provisions on the filing dateshall apply.
Where the request is not complied with within the time limit
specified, the communication shall be deemed not to have beenreceived.
3. Any communication submitted to the Office by fax shall
be considered to be duly signed if the reproduction of thesignature appears on the printout produced by the fax.
4. The President of the Office may determine additional
requirements for communication by fax, such as the equipmentto be used, technical details of communication, and methods of
identifying the sender.
Article 67
Communication by electronic means
1. Applications for registration of a Community design may
be submitted by electronic means, including the representationof the design, and notwithstanding Article 65(2) in the case offiling a specimen.
The conditions shall be laid down by the President of the
Office.17.12.2002 L 341/46 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
IP/N/1/EU/D/3 
        - 21 -2. The President of the Office shall determine the require-
ments for communication by electronic means, such as theequipment to be used, technical details of communication, andmethods of identifying the sender.
3. Where a communication is sent by electronic means,
Article 66(2) shall apply mutatis mutandis .
4. Where a communication is sent to the Office by elec-tronic means, the indication of the name of the sender shall bedeemed to be equivalent to the signature.
Article 68
Forms
1. The Office shall make available free of charge forms for
the purpose of:
(a) filing an application for a registered Community design;
(b) applying for the correction of an application or a registra-
tion;
(c) applying for the registration of a transfer and the transfer
form and transfer document referred to in Article 23(4);
(d) applying for the registration of a licence;
(e) applying for renewal of registration of a registered Commu-
nity design;(f) applying for a declaration of invalidity of a registered
Community design;
(g) applying for restitutio in integrum ;
(h) taking an appeal;
(i) authorising a representative, in the form of an individual
authorisation and in the form of a general authorisation.
2. The Office may make other forms available free ofcharge.
3. The Office shall make available the forms referred to in
paragraphs 1 and 2 in all the official languages of the Commu-nity.
4. The Office shall place the forms at the disposal of the
Benelux Design Office and of the Member States' central indus-trial property offices free of charge.
5. The Office may also make available the forms in
machine-readable form.
6. Parties to proceedings before the Office should use the
forms provided by the Office, or copies of those forms, or
forms with the same content and format as those forms, suchas forms generated by means of electronic data processing.
7. Forms shall be completed in such a manner as to permit
an automated input of the content into a computer, such as bycharacter recognition or scanning.
CHAPTER XIV
INFORMATION TO THE PUBLIC
Article 69
Register of Community Designs
1. The Register may be maintained in the form of an elec-tronic database.
2. The Register shall contain the following entries:
(a) the date of filing the application;
(b) the file number of the application and the file number of
each individual design included in a multiple application;
(c) the date of the publication of the registration;
(d) the name, the address and the nationality of the applicant
and the State in which he/she is domiciled or has his/her
seat or establishment;
(e) the name and business address of the representative, other
than an employee acting as representative in accordancewith the first subparagraph of Article 77(3) of Regulation(EC) No 6/2002; where there is more than one representa-
tive, only the name and business address of the first named
representative, the name being followed by the words ‘etal’, shall be recorded; where an association of representa-tives is appointed, only the name and address of the asso-ciation shall be recorded;
(f) the representation of the design;(g) an indication of the products by their names, preceded by
the numbers of the classes and subclasses of the Locarnoclassification, and grouped accordingly;
(h) particulars of claims of priority pursuant to Article 42 of
Regulation (EC) No 6/2002;
(i) particulars of claims of exhibition priority pursuant to
Article 44 of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002;
(j) where applicable, the citation of the designer or of the
team of designers pursuant to Article 18 of Regulation(EC) No 6/2002, or a statement that the designer or theteam of designers has waived the right to be cited;
(k) the language in which the application was filed and the
second language which the applicant has indicated in his/her application, pursuant to Article 98(2) of Regulation(EC) No 6/2002;
(l) the date of registration of the design in the Register and
the registration number;
(m) a mention of any request for deferment of publication
pursuant to Article 50(3) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002,
specifying the date of expiry of the period of deferment;
(n) a mention that a specimen was filed pursuant to Article 5;
(o) a mention that a description was filed pursuant to Article
1(2)(a).17.12.2002 L 341/47 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
IP/N/1/EU/D/3 
        - 22 -3. In addition to the entries set out in paragraph 2 the
Register shall contain the following entries, each accompaniedby the date of recording such entry:
(a) changes in the name, the address or the nationality of the
holder or in the State in which he/she is domiciled or hashis/her seat or establishment;
(b) changes in the name or business address of the representa-
tive, other than a representative falling within the first
subparagraph of Article 77(3) of Regulation (EC) No 6/
2002;
(c) when a new representative is appointed, the name and
business address of that representative;
(d) a mention that a multiple application or registration has
been divided into separate applications or registrationspursuant to Article 37(4) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002;
(e) the notice of an amendment to the design pursuant to
Article 25(6) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002, including, ifapplicable, a reference to the disclaimer made or the courtdecision or the decision by the Office declaring the partialinvalidity of the design right, as well as corrections ofmistakes and errors pursuant to Article 20 of this Regula-
tion;
(f) a mention that entitlement proceedings have been insti-
tuted under Article 15(1) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 in
respect of a registered Community design;
(g) the final decision or other termination of proceedings
pursuant to Article 15(4)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002concerning entitlement proceedings;
(h) a change of ownershipp ursuant to Article 15(4)(c) of
Regulation (EC) No 6/2002;
(i) transfers pursuant to Article 28 of Regulation (EC) No 6/
2002;
(j) the creation or transfer of a right in rempursuant to Article
29 of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 and the nature of theright in rem;
(k) levy of execution pursuant to Article 30 of Regulation (EC)
No 6/2002 and insolvency proceedings pursuant to Article31 of that Regulation;(l) the grant or transfer of a licence pursuant to Article 16(2)
or Article 32 of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 and, whereapplicable, the type of licence pursuant to Article 25 ofthis Regulation;
(m) renewal of the registration pursuant to Article 13 of Regu-
lation (EC) No 6/2002 and the date from which it takeseffect;
(n) a record of the determination of the expiry of the registra-
tion;
(o) a declaration of total or partial surrender by the holder
pursuant to Article 51(1) and (3) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002;
(p) the date of submission of an application or of the filing of
a counterclaim for a declaration of invalidity pursuant,respectively, to Article 52 or Article 86(2) of Regulation(EC) No 6/2002;
(q) the date and content of the decision on the application or
counterclaim for declaration of invalidity or any othertermination of proceedings pursuant, respectively, to
Article 53 or Article 86(4) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002;
(r) a mention pursuant to Article 50(4) of Regulation (EC) No
6/2002 that the registered Community design is deemed
from the outset not to have had the effects specified in thatRegulation;
(s) the cancellation of the representative recorded pursuant to
paragraph 2(e);
(t) the modification or cancellation from the Register of the
items referred to in points (j), (k) and (l).
4. The President of the Office may determine that itemsother than those referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 shall be
entered in the Register.
5. The holder shall be notified of any change in the Register.6. Subject to Article 73, the Office shall provide certified or
uncertified extracts from the Register on request, on payment
of a fee.
CHAPTER XV
COMMUNITY DESIGNS BULLETIN AND DATA BASE
Article 70
Community Designs Bulletin
1. The Office shall determine the frequency of the publica-tion of the Community Designs Bulletin and the manner in which
such publication shall take place.
2. Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 50(2) of
Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 and subject to Articles 14 and 16of this Regulation relating to deferment of publication, the
Community Designs Bulletin shall contain publications of regis-
tration and of entries made in the Register as well as otherparticulars relating to registrations of designs whose publication
is prescribed by Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 or by this Regula-tion.
3. Where particulars whose publication is prescribed in
Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 or in this Regulation are publishedin the Community Designs Bulletin , the date of issue shown on
the Bulletin shall be taken as the date of publication of theparticulars.
4. The information the publication of which is prescribed in
Articles 14 and 16 shall, where appropriate, be published in all
the official languages of the Community.17.12.2002 L 341/48 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
IP/N/1/EU/D/3 
        - 23 -Article 71
Database
1. The Office shall maintain an electronic database with the
particulars of applications for registration of Communitydesigns and entries in the Register. The Office may, subject to
the restrictions prescribed by Article 50(2) and (3) of Regula-tion (EC) No 6/2002, make available the contents of that data-
base for direct access or on CD-ROM or in any other machine-readable form.
2. The President of the Office shall determine the conditions
of access to the database and the manner in which the contentsof this database may be made available in machine-readable
form, including the charges for those acts.
CHAPTER XVI
INSPECTION OF FILES AND KEEPING OF FILES
Article 72
Parts of the file excluded from inspection
The parts of the file which shall be excluded from inspection
pursuant to Article 74(4) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 shallbe:
(a) documents relating to exclusion or objection pursuant to
Article 132 of Regulation (EC) No 40/94, the provisions ofthat Article being considered for this purpose as applyingmutatis mutandis to registered Community designs and to
applications for these;
(b) draft decisions and opinions, and all other internal docu-
ments used for the preparation of decisions and opinions;
(c) parts of the file which the party concerned showed a
special interest in keeping confidential before the applica-
tion for inspection of the files was made, unless inspection
of such part of the file is justified by overriding legitimateinterests of the party seeking inspection.
Article 73
Inspection of the Register of Community Designs
Where the registration is subject to a deferment of publicationpursuant to Article 50(1) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002:
(a) access to the Register to persons other than the holder shall
be limited to the name of the holder, the name of anyrepresentative, the date of filing and registration, the filenumber of the application and the mention that publicationis deferred;
(b) the certified or uncertified extracts from the Register shall
contain only the name of the holder, the name of anyrepresentative, the date of filing and registration, the filenumber of the application and the mention that publicationis deferred, except where the request has been made by theholder or his/her representative.
Article 74
Procedures for the inspection of files
1. Inspection of the files of registered Community designs
shall either be of the original document, or of copies thereof,
or of technical means of storage if the files are so stored.The request for inspection of the files shall not be deemed tohave been made until the required fee has been paid.
The means of inspection shall be determined by the President
of the Office.
2. Where inspection of the files relates to an application for
a registered Community design or to a registered Community
design which is subject to deferment of publication, which,being subject to such deferment, has been surrendered beforeor on the expiry of that period or which, pursuant to Article50(4) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002, is deemed from the outsetnot to have had the effects specified in that Regulation, the
request shall contain an indication and evidence to the effect
that:
(a) the applicant for or holder of the Community design has
consented to the inspection; or
(b) the person requesting the inspection has established a legiti-
mate interest in the inspection of the file, in particularwhere the applicant for or holder of the Community designhas stated that after the design has been registered he/shewill invoke the rights under it against the person requesting
the inspection.
3. Inspection of the files shall take place on the premises of
the Office.
4. On request, inspection of the files shall be effected by
means of issuing copies of file documents. Such copies shallincur fees.
5. The Office shall issue on request certified or uncertified
copies of the application for a registered Community design orof those file documents of which copies may be issued
pursuant to paragraph 4 upon payment of a fee.
Article 75
Communication of information contained in the files
Subject to the restrictions provided for in Article 74 of Regula-
tion (EC) No 6/2002 and Articles 72 and 73 of this Regulation,the Office may, upon request, communicate information from
any file of a Community design applied for or of a registered
Community design, subject to payment of a fee.17.12.2002 L 341/49 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
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        - 24 -However, the Office may require the applicant to inspect the
filein situ, should it deem that to be appropriate in view of the
quantity of information to be supplied.
Article 76
Keeping of files
1. The Office shall keepthe files relating to Communitydesign applications and to registered Community designs for atleast five years from the end of the year in which:
(a) the application is rejected or withdrawn;
(b) the registration of the registered Community design expires
definitively;(c) the complete surrender of the registered Community design
is registered pursuant to Article 51 of Regulation (EC) No6/2002;
(d) the registered Community design is definitively removed
from the Register;
(e) the registered Community design is deemed not to have
had the effects specified in Regulation (EC) No 6/2002pursuant to Article 50(4) thereof.
2. The President of the Office shall determine the form inwhich the files shall be kept.
CHAPTER XVII
ADMINISTRATIVE COOPERATION
Article 77
Exchange of information and communications between
the Office and the authorities of the Member States
1. The Office and the central industrial property offices ofthe Member States and the Benelux Design Office shall, uponrequest, communicate to each other relevant information aboutthe filing of applications for registered Community designs,Benelux designs or national registered designs and aboutproceedings relating to such applications and the designs regis-
tered as a result thereof. Such communications shall not be
subject to the restrictions provided for in Article 74 of Regula-tion (EC) No 6/2002.
2. Communications between the Office and the courts or
authorities of the Member States which arise out of the applica-tion of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 or this Regulation shall be
effected directly between those authorities.
Such communication may also be effected through the central
industrial property offices of the Member States or the BeneluxDesign Office.
3. Expenditure in respect of communications pursuant to
paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be chargeable to the authority makingthe communications, which shall be exempt from fees.Article 78
Inspection of files by or via courts or authorities of the
Member States
1. Inspection of files relating to Community designs appliedfor or registered Community designs by courts or authorities ofthe Member States shall if so requested be of the original docu-ments or of copies thereof. Article 74 shall not apply.
2. Courts or public prosecutors' offices of the Member States
may, in the course of proceedings before them, open files orcopies thereof transmitted by the Office to inspection by thirdparties. Such inspection shall be subject to Article 74 of Regu-lation (EC) No 6/2002.
3. The Office shall not charge any fee for inspections
pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 2.
4. The Office shall, at the time of transmission of the files or
copies thereof to the courts or public prosecutors' offices of the
Member States, indicate the restrictions to which the inspectionof files relating to Community designs applied for or registeredCommunity designs is subject pursuant to Article 74 of Regula-tion (EC) No 6/2002 and Article 72 of this Regulation.
CHAPTER XVIII
COSTS
Article 79
Apportionment and fixing of costs
1. Apportionment of costs pursuant to Article 70(1) and (2)of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 shall be dealt with in the deci-sion on the application for a declaration of invalidity of a regis-
tered Community design, or in the decision on the appeal.
2. Apportionment of costs pursuant to Article 70(3) and (4)
of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 shall be dealt with in a decision
on costs by the Invalidity Division or the Board of Appeal.3. A bill of costs, with supporting evidence, shall be attached
to the request for the fixing of costs provided for in the first
sentence of Article 70(6) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002.
The request shall be admissible only if the decision in respect
of which the fixing of costs is required has become final. Costs
may be fixed once their credibility is established.
4. The request provided for in the second sentence of Article
70(6) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 for a review of the deci-sion of the registry on the fixing of costs, stating the reasons
on which it is based, must be filed at the Office within one
month of the date of notification of the awarding of costs.17.12.2002 L 341/50 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
IP/N/1/EU/D/3 
        - 25 -Itshall not be deemed to be filed until the fee for reviewing the
amount of the costs has been paid.
5. The Invalidity Division or the Board of Appeal, as the
case may be, shall take a decision on the request referred to inparagraph 4 without oral proceedings.
6. The fees to be borne by the losing party pursuant to
Article 70(1) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 shall be limited to
the fees incurred by the other party for the application for adeclaration of invalidity and/or for the appeal.
7. Costs essential to the proceedings and actually incurred
by the successful party shall be borne by the losing party inaccordance with Article 70(1) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002on the basis of the following maximum rates:
(a) travel expenses of one party for the outward and return
journey between the place of residence or the place of busi-ness and the place where oral proceedings are held orwhere evidence is taken, as follows:
(i) the cost of the first-class rail fare including usual trans-
port supplements where the total distance by rail does
not exceed 800 km;
(ii) the cost of the tourist-class air fare where the total
distance by rail exceeds 800 km or the route includes asea crossing;
(b) subsistence expenses of one party equal to the daily subsis-
tence allowance for officials in grades A 4 to A 8 as laid
down in Article 13 of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations of
officials of the European Communities;
(c) travel expenses of representatives within the meaning of
Article 78(1) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 and of
witnesses and of experts, at the rates provided for in point
(a);(d) subsistence expenses of representatives within the meaning
of Article 78(1) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 and of
witnesses and experts, at the rates referred to in point (b);
(e) costs entailed in the taking of evidence in the form of
examination of witnesses, opinions by experts or inspec-tion, up to EUR 300 per proceedings;
(f) costs of representation, within the meaning of Article 78(1)
of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002:
(i) of the applicant in proceedings relating to invalidity of
a registered Community design upto EUR 400;
(ii) of the holder in proceedings relating to invalidity of a
registered Community design upto EUR 400;
(iii) of the appellant in appeal proceedings up to EUR 500;
(iv) of the defendant in appeal proceedings up to
EUR 500;
(g) where the successful party is represented by more than one
representative within the meaning of Article 78(1) of theRegulation (EC) No 6/2002, the losing party shall bear the
costs referred to in points (c), (d) and (f) for one such
person only;
(h) the losing party shall not be obliged to reimburse the
successful party for any costs, expenses and fees other thanthose referred to in points (a) to (g).
Where the taking of evidence in any of the proceedings referredto in point (f) of the first subparagraph involves the examina-tion of witnesses, opinions by experts or inspection, an addi-tional amount shall be granted for representation costs of up to
EUR 600 per proceedings.
CHAPTER XIX
LANGUAGES
Article 80
Applications and declarations
Without prejudice to Article 98(4) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002:
(a) any application or declaration relating to an application for
a registered Community design may be filed in the languageused for filing the application or in the second language
indicated by the applicant in his/her application;
(b) any application or declaration other than an application for
declaration of invalidity pursuant to Article 52 of Regula-tion (EC) No 6/2002, or declaration of surrender pursuantto Article 51 of that Regulation relating to a registeredCommunity design may be filed in one of the languages ofthe Office;
(c) when any of the forms provided by the Office pursuant to
Article 68 is used, such forms may be used in any of theofficial languages of the Community, provided that the
form is completed in one of the languages of the Office, as
far as textual elements are concerned.Article 81
Written proceedings
1. Without prejudice to Article 98(3) and (5) of Regulation(EC) No 6/2002 and save as otherwise provided in this Regula-
tion, in written proceedings before the Office a party may use
any language of the Office.
If the language chosen is not the language of the proceedings,
the party shall supply a translation into that language within
one month of the date of the submission of the original docu-
ment.
Where the applicant for a registered Community design is the
sole party to proceedings before the Office and the language
used for the filing of the application for the registered Commu-
nity design is not one of the languages of the Office, the trans-lation may also be filed in the second language indicated by theapplicant in his/her application.
2. Save as otherwise provided in this Regulation, documents
to be used in proceedings before the Office may be filed in any
official language of the Community.17.12.2002 L 341/51 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
IP/N/1/EU/D/3 
        - 26 -Where the language of such documents is not the languageo f
the proceedings the Office may require that a translation besupplied, within a time limit specified by it, in that language or,at the choice of the party to the proceeding, in any language ofthe Office.
Article 82
Oralproceedings
1. Any party to oral proceedings before the Office may, in
place of the language of proceedings, use one of the other offi-
cial languages of the Community, on condition that he/shemakes provision for interpretation into the language ofproceedings.
Where the oral proceedings are held in a proceeding
concerning the application for registration of a design theapplicant may use either the language of the application or the
second language indicated by him/her.
2. In oral proceedings concerning the application for regis-
tration of a design, the staff of the Office may use either thelanguage of the application or the second language indicatedby the applicant.
In all other oral proceedings, the staff of the Office may use, in
place of the language of the proceedings, one of the other
languages of the Office, on condition that the party or parties
to the proceedings agree(s) to such use.
3. With regard to the taking of evidence, any party to be
heard, witness or expert who is unable to express himself/herself adequately in the language of proceedings, may use anyof the official languages of the Community.
Where the taking of evidence is decided upon following a
request by a party to the proceedings, parties to be heard,
witnesses or experts who express themselves in languages other
than the language of proceedings may be heard only if theparty who made the request makes provision for interpretationinto that language.
In proceedings concerning the application for registration of a
design, in place of the language of the application, the second
language indicated by the applicant may be used.
In any proceedings with only one party, the Office may at the
request of the party concerned permit derogation from theprovisions in this paragraph.4. If the parties and the Office so agree, any official languageof the Community may be used in oral proceedings.
5. The Office shall, if necessary, make provision at its own
expense for interpretation into the language of proceedings, or,
where appropriate, into its other languages, unless this inter-
pretation is the responsibility of one of the parties to theproceedings.
6. Statements by staff of the Office, by parties to the
proceedings and by witnesses and experts, made in one of the
languages of the Office during oral proceedings shall be entered
in the minutes in the language employed. Statements made inany other language shall be entered in the language of proceed-ings.
Corrections to the application for or the registration of a
Community design shall be entered in the minutes in thelanguage of proceedings.
Article 83
Certification of translations
1. When a translation of any document is to be filed, theOffice may require the filing, within a time limit to be specifiedby it, of a certificate that the translation corresponds to the
original text.
Where the certificate relates to the translation of a previous
application pursuant to Article 42 of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002, such time limit shall not be less than three months afterthe date of filing of the application.
Where the certificate is not filed within that time limit, the
document shall be deemed not to have been received.
2. The President of the Office may determine the manner in
which translations are certified.
Article 84
Legalauthenticity of transl ations
In the absence of evidence to the contrary, the Office mayassume that a translation corresponds to the relevant originaltext.
CHAPTER XX
RECIPROCITY, TRANSITION PERIOD AND ENTRY INTO FORCE
Article 85
Publication of reciprocity
1. If necessary, the President of the Office shall request theCommission to enquire whether a State which is not party tothe Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Propertyor to the Agreement establishing the World Trade Organisation
grants reciprocal treatment within the meaning of Article 41(5)
Regulation (EC) No 6/2002.
2. If the Commission determines that reciprocal treatment in
accordance with paragraph 1 is granted, it shall publish a
communication to that effect in the Official Journal of the
European Communities .3. Article 41(5) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 shall apply
from the date of publication in the Official Journal of the
European Communities of the communication referred to in para-
graph 2, unless the communication states an earlier date fromwhich it is applicable.
Article 41(5) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 shall cease to be
applicable from the date of publication in the Official Journal of
the European Communities of a communication of the Commis-
sion stating that reciprocal treatment is no longer granted,unless the communication states an earlier date from which itis applicable.
4. Communications referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 shall
also be published in the Official Journal of the Office.17.12.2002 L 341/52 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
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        - 27 -Article 86
Transition period
1. Any application for registration of a Community design
filed no more than three months before the date fixed pursuantto Article 111(2) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 shall bemarked by the Office with the filing date determined pursuant
to that provision and with the actual date of receipt of the
application.
2. With regard to the application, the priority period of six
months provided for in Articles 41 and 44 of Regulation (EC)No 6/2002 shall be calculated from the date fixed pursuant toArticle 111(2) of that Regulation.
3. The Office may issue a receipt to the applicant prior to
the date fixed pursuant to Article 111(2) of Regulation (EC) No
6/2002.
4. The Office may examine the applications prior to the date
fixed pursuant to Article 111(2) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002and communicate with the applicant with a view to remedyingany deficiencies prior to that date.Any decisions with regard to such applications may be takenonly after that date.
5. Where the date of receipt of an application for the regis-
tration of a Community design by the Office, by the central
industrial property office of a Member State or by the Benelux
Design Office is before the commencement of the three-monthperiod specified in Article 111(3) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 the application shall be deemed not to have been filed.
The applicant shall be informed accordingly and the application
shall be sent back to him/her.
Article 87
Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh day
following its publication in the Official Journal of the European
Communities .
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 21 October 2002.
For the Commission
Frederik BOLKESTEIN
Member of the Commission17.12.2002 L 341/53 Official Journal of the European Communities EN
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        - 28 -