The European Commission and EU Member States have decided to lower further the fees payable to the Community agency responsible for granting EU-wide trade mark rights, OHIM (Office for the Harmonization in the Internal Market, located in Alicante, Spain), and to simplify the registration procedure. This measure, which follows an initial reduction in 2005 (IP/05/1289), will make trade mark protection much cheaper and easier to obtain for businesses operating in the EU single market, saving them some €60 million a year. It will come into force on 1 May 2009.

The fee reduction and simplification of procedure essentially consist in setting the registration fee for Community trade marks to zero. Businesses will therefore pay only an application fee, and will no longer have to pay a separate fee for registration. As a result, the processing time for the registration of a Community trade mark will also become significantly shorter. In practice this means that, instead of paying the amount of € 1750 for the application and registration of a Community trade mark, businesses will be charged only an application fee of € 1050 in future. Those who file their applications via the Internet will benefit from a greater reduction and will be charged merely an application fee of € 900 in place of the total amount of € 1600 to be paid at present.

These fee reductions imply that in future businesses will pay 40% less for obtaining a Community trade mark – and as much as 44% less when using electronic means. Moreover, the individual fee for international trade mark applications and registrations designating the European Community under the Madrid Protocol will go down from € 1450 to € 870, which also corresponds to a 40% decrease.