Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Proposal for a Council Decision approving the accession of the European Community to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement concerning the international registration of industrial designs, adopted in Geneva on 2 July 1999 COM(2005) 687 final — 2005/0273 (CNS) and the — Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 and Regulation (EC) No 40/94 to give effect to the accession of the European Community to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement concerning the international registration of industrial designs COM(2005) 689 final — 2005/0274 (CNS)
Date: 2006-12-16
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: EU trade mark, European Union Intellectual Property Office, World Intellectual Property Organisation, designs and models, industrial property, trade-mark law

16.12.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 309/33

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Proposal for a Council Decision
approving the accession of the European Community to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement
concerning the international registration of industrial designs, adopted in Geneva on 2 July 1999

COM(2005) 687 final — 2005/0273 (CNS)

and the

Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 and Regulation (EC) No
40/94 to give effect to the accession of the European Community to the Geneva Act of the Hague
Agreement concerning the international registration of industrial designs

COM(2005) 689 final — 2005/0274 (CNS)

(2006/C 309/07)

On 17 February 2006 the Council decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee,
under Articles 308 and 300 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the abovementioned
proposal.

On 14 February 2006 the Council decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee,
under Article 308 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the

Proposal for a Council regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 and (EC) No 40/94 to give effect
to the accession of the European Community to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement concerning the
international registration of industrial designs

COM(2005) 689 final — 2005/0274 (CNS).

The Section for the Single Market, Production and Consumption, which was responsible for preparing the
Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 31 May 2006. The rapporteur was
Mr Bryan Cassidy.

At its 428th plenary session, held on 5 and 6 July 2006 (meeting of 5 July), the European Economic and
Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 155 votes to 3 with 2 abstentions.

1. Executive summary of EESC conclusions and recom-

mendations

become party to only one, two or all three Acts. They automa-
tically become members of the Hague Union, which at present
has 42 Contracting States, including 12 EU members (1).

The two Commission proposals are linked and will therefore be
taken in one document for the purposes of the EESC's consid-
eration.

The EESC fully supports the Commission proposals.

2. Main elements of the Commission proposals

2.1
These proposals seek to establish a link between the
Community registered design system and the Hague system for
the international registration of industrial designs, by the acces-
sion of the EC to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement. The
first proposal is to accede to the Act. The second is to amend
the relevant Regulations to make this possible.

2.2
The Hague System is based on the Hague Agreement
concerning the International Registration on Industrial Designs.
This Agreement is constituted by three different Acts; the 1934
London Act, the 1960 the Hague Act and the 1999 Geneva
Act. The three acts are autonomous and coexist with respect to
their substantive provisions. Contracting parties may decide to

2.3
Accession would allow designers throughout the EC to
protect new and original designs in any of the Geneva Act
countries with a single application. It would add another route
by which applicants could protect their designs, with protec-
tion available at a national level, at Community level through
the Community Registered Design and internationally through
the Hague system.

2.4
The result would be a simpler, more economically effi-
cient and cost effective system. Under the Hague system, appli-
cants are not required to provide translations of documents, do
not have to pay separate fees to offices and agents in different
countries, nor do they have to keep watch on the different
deadlines for renewal of national applications. Instead, a single
application is deposited at a single location with a single fee,
resulting in multiple international registered design rights in
nominated Geneva Act countries.

(1) They are: Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary,
Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain. The EU
itself is not at present a member of the Hague system.

C 309/34

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Official Journal of the European Union

16.12.2006

The Community design system allows designers

2.5
to
protect new and original designs, which are characterised by
their visual appearance, by the granting of individual monopo-
lies over registered designs, which are unitary in character and
valid throughout the EC. Registered design rights also exist in
each of the Member States but the Community design is an
economical and convenient way of obtaining uniform protec-
tion throughout the Community by any business operating in
the European market.

in a bundle of

2.6
The Hague Agreement Concerning International Regis-
tration of Industrial Designs provides a system, administered by
the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) by which
filing a single design application together with a single fee will
result
in nominated
contracting states. The Hague system can be used by any resi-
dent or national of or business established in a state, which is
party to the Agreement. At present WIPO does not receive
applications filed though national offices. Direct filing at WIPO
avoids confusion and duplication and the possibility of over-
payment to the OHIM.

registered designs

2.7
One of the advantages of the Hague system is that it
facilitates the modification of design protection and renewal at
its expiry.

2.8
The Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement entered into
force on 23 December 2003. Among other modifications to
make the system more accessible, it allows for the accession of
intergovernmental organisations such as the EC to the Hague
system. Currently, 19 countries are parties to the Geneva Act
including Switzerland, Singapore and Turkey. A number of
Member States have yet to sign and/or ratify.

The Geneva Act allows applications in only one of two

2.9
official languages — English and French.

The United States is due to accede to the Act

2.10
in
November 2006 and accession by both the EU and the US
should encourage other major trading partners (China, Japan,

Brussels, 5 July 2006.

to accede allowing registration in several significant

Korea)
countries.

The proposal establishes a link between the EC, which
2.11
is regarded as a single country under the Act and the Hague
system thereby increasing its usefulness.

3. Specific comments

3.1
The proposal for a Council Decision [COM(2005) 687
final] allows the EC to act as a single country in the Hague
union in relation to the Community Design system. The
to regulation EC/6/2002 (Community Designs
amendment
Regulation) gives effect to the accession to the Geneva Act.

The amendment of

3.2
regulation EC/40/94 (the Com-
munity Trade Mark Regulation) allows for the Office for
Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) in Alicante to
accept fees for designs registered under the Geneva Act.

The legal base for the proposal to amend these two

3.3
Community Regulations is Article 308 of the EC Treaty.

The European Parliament is consulted. The two propo-

3.4
sals are not subject to co-decision.

3.5

Voting in the Council is by unanimity.

4. Costs

4.1
It is not expected that additional costs will be incurred
by this proposal as it concerns amendments to Regulations
which have direct applicability to Member States.

Currently, design registrations are subject to filing fees
4.2
and renewal
fees in each country in which they are filed.
Typical national filing fees are estimated to be generally under
EUR 100 but in addition, there is the cost and inconvenience
of currency conversion when filing internationally.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Anne-Marie SIGMUND