COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2020/2035

of 7 December 2020

amending Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1352/2013 as regards the application for action form provided for in Regulation (EU) No 608/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council, in order to introduce the possibility to request the taking of action in Northern Ireland

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 608/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 June 2013 concerning customs enforcement of intellectual property rights and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1383/2003 (1), and in particular Article 6(1) thereof,

After consulting the Customs Code Committee,

Whereas:

(1) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1352/2013 (2) establishes, in its Annex I, the form to be used to submit an application requesting that customs authorities take action with respect to goods suspected of infringing an intellectual property right, referred to in Article 6 of Regulation (EU) No 608/2013 (‘the application for action form’).

(2) Since 1 February 2020, the United Kingdom has withdrawn from the European Union and has become a ‘third country’. The Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community (Withdrawal Agreement) (3) provides for a transition period ending on 31 December 2020. Until that date, Union law in its entirety applies to and in the United Kingdom.

(3) After the end of the transition period, the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland (‘IE/NI Protocol’), which forms an integral part of the Withdrawal Agreement, applies. The IE/NI Protocol makes certain provisions of Union law applicable under certain conditions also to and in the United Kingdom in respect of Northern Ireland (4).

(4) The IE/NI Protocol provides that the regulations listed in its Annex 2 under point 45 (Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5); Regulation (EU) 2019/787 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6); Regulation (EU) No 251/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (7); Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (8), Sections 2 and 3 of Chapter I of Title II of Part II and Regulation (EU) No 608/2013) apply to and in the United Kingdom in respect of Northern Ireland.

(5) Hence, a right holder should be able to request a customs action in a Member State for protection in Northern Ireland of those intellectual property rights, by submitting a Union application.

(6) More specifically, a right holder should be able to request that the procedure for the destruction of goods in small consignments, set out in Article 26 Regulation (EU) No 608/2013 be used for goods whose geographical indication has been infringed, as these goods are included in the definition of counterfeit goods in point 5 of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 608/2013.

(7) Therefore, the application for action form needs to be adapted by introducing in the box ‘6. Member State or, in the case of a Union application, Member States in which customs action is requested’ and in box ‘10. I request the use of the procedure of Article 26 of Regulation (EU) No 608/2013 (small consignments) in the following Member State(s) and, where requested by the customs authorities, agree to cover the costs related to the destruction of goods under this procedure’ a new tick box called ‘XI’ for Northern Ireland.

(8) In the same fields, the tick box for UK should be deleted to reflect the end of the transition period provided for in the Withdrawal Agreement.

(9) The notes on completion of Annex I to Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1352/2013, which are set out in Annex III to that Regulation should be amended to clarify that action in Northern Ireland can only be asked for intellectual property rights which are protected in Northern Ireland by virtue of the IE/NI Protocol.

(10) Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1352/2013 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(11) This Regulation should start applying on the day following that on which the transition period provided for in the Withdrawal Agreement is to end,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1 Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1352/2013 is amended as follows: (1) Annex I is replaced by the text set out in Annex I to this Regulation; (2) Annex III is amended in accordance with Annex II to this Regulation.

Article 2 This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. It shall apply from 1 January 2021.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. Done at Brussels, 7 December 2020. For the Commission The President Ursula VON DER LEYEN

(1) OJ L 181, 29.6.2013, p. 15.

(2) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1352/2013 of 4 December 2013 establishing the forms provided for in Regulation (EU) No 608/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning customs enforcement of intellectual property rights (OJ L 341, 18.12.2013, p. 10).

(3) Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, OJ L 29, 31.1.2020, p. 7 (‘Withdrawal Agreement’).

(4) Article 5(4) of the IE/NI Protocol.

(5) Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 November 2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs (OJ L 343, 14.12.2012, p. 1).

(6) Regulation (EU) 2019/787 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the definition, description, presentation and labelling of spirit drinks, the use of the names of spirit drinks in the presentation and labelling of other foodstuffs, the protection of geographical indications for spirit drinks, the use of ethyl alcohol and distillates of agricultural origin in alcoholic beverages, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 110/2008 (OJ L 130, 17.5.2019, p. 1).

(7) Regulation (EU) No 251/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on the definition, description, presentation, labelling and the protection of geographical indications of aromatised wine products and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 1601/91 (OJ L 84, 20.3.2014, p. 14).

(8) Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 922/72, (EEC) No 234/79, (EC) No 1037/2001 and (EC) No 1234/2007 (OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 671).