Intellectual property: Council gives its final approval to the designs protection package
The Council has today adopted the two legislative acts under the design package: the revised directive on the legal protection of designs and the amended regulation on community designs. The texts adopted today update the current design legislation to improve the protection of industrial designs in the era of digital designs and 3D printing.
This is the last step in the decision-making procedure.
Better design protection
The directive and regulation adopted today will make the procedure to register designs at EU level cheaper and easier and will harmonise procedures between European and national systems. They also introduce the so-called “repair clause” with new rules to exempt from design protection the spare parts used for repair of complex products (such as spare parts for the car-repair sector). There will be a harmonised transitional period to allow that existing designs of component parts are protected during the transition from the existing legal framework to the legislation adopted today.
Next steps
Following the Council’s approval today, the legislative act has been adopted.
After being signed by the President of the European Parliament and the President of the Council, the directive on the legal protection of designs will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and will enter into force on the 20th day following its publication. Member States will have a period of 36 months to take the necessary measures to transpose the directive.
The regulation amending the regulation on Community designs will enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. It will apply 4 months later.
Background
Design-intensive industries represent almost 16% of GDP and 14% of all jobs in the Union. On 10 November 2020, the Council asked the Commission to present proposals to modernise the EU design protection provisions, which were almost 20 years old.
On 28 November 2022, the Commission published a package of measures containing two proposals: a regulation amending Council regulation (EC) No 6/2002 on Community designs and a directive on the legal protection of designs (recast of directive 98/71/EC). The Council adopted its position on 25 September 2023.