As for EU Trademarks, the registered Community design is examined and registered by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). The application can be filed either directly at the Office, or at the central Industrial Property Office of a member State, or in the Benelux countries at the Benelux Design Office.

Applicant: a Community design may be obtained by any individual or legal entity, including authorities established under public law, who are: (a) nationals of a member State of the EU; (b) nationals of a State which is party to the Paris Union Convention (PUC), or a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO); (c) nationals who are domiciled or have a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment within the territory of the EU, or of a State which is party to the PUC; (d) nationals of other States which recognize to nationals of all the member States of the EU the same protection for designs as they accord to their own nationals (principle of reciprocity).

Filing requirements: besides the usual requisites i.e., identification of the applicant and a representation of the design, an application for a registered Community design must contain an indication of the products in which the design is intended to be incorporated or to which it is intended to be applied.

Interestingly, several designs may be combined in one multiple application. Except in cases of “ornamentation”, all products in which those designs are materialized must belong to the same class of the International Classification of Locarno.

Languages: applications must be filed in one of the official languages of the European Union. The applicant will also indicate a second language, which shall be a language of the Office: English, French, German, Italian or Spanish. All proceedings at the EUIPO will therefore be conducted in one of those languages.

Examination: the Office shall limit itself to an examination as to formal requirement for filing and shall verify whether the application meets all formal conditions it must comply. This aspect will determine the filing date, which will be the date all pertaining documents are filed with the Office.

Registration and publication: when all conditions for the application are fulfilled, it should normally proceed to registration and shall be published in the Community Designs Bulletin. Upon applicant’s request, the advertisement can be delayed for a period of 30 months from the date of the filing (or from the date of priority when the latter is claimed).