The EU Design Act – new EU Legislation on the Implementation of the EU Design

The European Union Design Act, entering into force this year consists of the newly agreed upon Directive 2024/2823 (replacing Directive 98/71) and . Regulation – EU – 2024/2822 – EN – EUR-Lex (replacing Regulation – 6/2002 – EN – EUR-Lex). Both legislation introduces substantial changes to design protection across the EU.

The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), as the competent EU agency, will adopt these changes, in three stages:

Phase 1: Parts of the Regulation will enter into force on May 1st, 2025
Phase 2: The entirety of the Regulation will enter into force on July 1st, 2026
Phase 3: Member states have time to implement the new Directive untill December 9th, 2027

Phase 1: Simplified Fee Regime, with Increase of Renewal Fees

The European Union design registration fee structure maintains its base rate of EUR 350, wherein the registration fee and publication fee are now combined into a single application fee, with the same rate as the prior registration and publication fees. The fee for each subsequent design in an application containing multiple design applications is now 125€. This is an increase compared to the previous 115€.

Additionally, the renewal fees for both international and regular registrations have increased under the new regulation. The international renewal fees have doubled from 31€ to 62€ for all renewal periods. The regular renewal fees, however, have seen significant increases across all four renewal periods. Previously, the fees ranged from 90€ to 180€, but under the new regulation, they now range from 150€ to 700€, reflecting a substantial increase, especially in later renewal periods.

Renewal Fees Comparison

Period of Renewal	Old (EUR)		New (Regulation – A 106aa) (EUR)
	International	Regular	International	Regular
1	31€	90€	62€	150€
2	31€	120€	62€	250€
3	31€	150€	62€	400€
4	31€	180€	62€	700€

Phase 1: Modified Renewal Process and Timeline Requirements

The EU Design Act introduces another important change concerning the time limit of the renewal process for EU design registrations. While maintaining the basic principle that renewals must be requested by the right holder or an authorized person, the new Article 50d of Regulation 2024/2822 aligns the basic renewal period with that of EU trademarks. The new regulation specifies that the six-month renewal period now ends on the exact day of registration expiry, rather than the last day of the expiry month as previously required.

Regulation	Article
Regulation 6/2002	Article 13 3. The request for renewal shall be submitted and the renewal fee paid within a period of six months ending on the last day of the month in which protection ends. Failing this, the request may be submitted and the fee paid within a further period of six months from the day referred to in the first sentence, provided that an additional fee is paid within this further period.
Regulation 2024/2822	Article 50d 3. The request for renewal shall be submitted within a six months period prior to the expiry of the registration. The renewal fee shall also be paid within that period.

Phase 1: Unity of Class Requirement for Multiple EU Design Applications Abandoned

Until May 1st, 2025 it is still required to submit multiple design applications within the same Locarno class. Previously, Regulation 6/2002 mandated that all designs in a multiple design application must belong to the same class under the International Classification for Industrial Designs. With the adoption of Regulation 2024/2822, this restriction has been removed, allowing designs across different Locarno classes to be included in a single application. However, a new limit of 50 designs per application has been introduced.

Phase 1: Expanded Enforcement for EU Designs: 3D Printing and Goods in Transit

The amandments to the EU Design regulations further expand the enforcement capabilities for design rights holders, particularly in the areas of 3D printing and counterfeit goods in transit. Design holders now have the legal authority to take action against unauthorized copies produced using 3D printing technologies. The exact wording of this change is reflected in Article 19 of the Regulation 2024/2822. The following table shows the difference between the old and new wording.

Regulation	Article 19
Regulation 6/2002	A registered Community design shall confer on its holder the exclusive right to use it and to prevent any third party not having his consent from using it. The aforementioned use shall cover, in particular, the making, offering, putting on the market, importing, exporting or using of a product in which the design is incorporated or to which it is applied, or stocking such a product for those purposes.
Regulation 2024/2822	1. A registered EU design shall confer on its holder the exclusive right to use it and to prevent any third party not having the consent of the holder from using it. 2. The following, in particular, may be prohibited under paragraph 1: (a)making, offering, placing on the market or using a product in which the design is incorporated or to which the design is applied; (b)importing or exporting a product referred to in point (a); (c)stocking a product referred to in point (a) for the purposes referred to in points (a) and (b); (d) creating, downloading, copying and sharing or distributing to others any medium or software which records the design for the purpose of enabling a product referred to in point (a) to be made.

Phase 1: EU Design Registration Symbol: New Requirements and Guidelines

The EU design Act also introduces a new label for EU design holders. The D in a cirlce “Ⓓ” allows EU design holders to mark their designs, similar to the ® and © symbols used for trademarks and copyright protection in the EU design framework.

Under EU Design Regulation 2024/2822, Article 26a specifically addresses the EU design registration symbol requirements. Holders of registered EU designs now have the official right to display the circled D symbol (Ⓓ) on products incorporating their protected designs. This new EU design marking system serves to strengthen design rights awareness and provide clear visual indication of design protection status.

The EU design regulation further specifies that design holders may enhance their protection notice by including either:

The official EU design registration number
A hyperlink directing to the design’s entry in the EU Design Register

Phase 2: Expanded Definition of EU Designs: Embracing Digital Innovation

Beginning with July 1st, 2026 The EU Design Act further introduces a a new definition of the design itself, by explicitly including digital and animated elements. This expansion is supposed to address the growing presensce of digital interfaces, user experience design, and dynamic visual elements in modern product and software design.

Key Changes in EU Design Definition concern the new Article 3 of the regulation expands the traditional concept of design protection to encompass:

Movement-based features
Transition effects
Animated elements
Digital interface designs

Please consult the following table to see the comparison between former regulation and new regulation.

Regulation	Article 3
Regulation 6/2002	“design” means the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features of, in particular, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and/or materials of the product itself and/or its ornamentation;
Regulation 2024/2822	“design” means the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features, in particular the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and/or materials, of the product itself and/or of its decoration, including the movement, transition or any other sort of animation of those features;

Phase 2: New representation requirements for EU design applications

Accroding to a change to article 36 of the regulation, the limit concerning the representation of a single design per application is most likely no longer limited to seven.

We have to leave it with most likely, since the regulation requests the Executive Director of the EUIPO to make a decision on how representations, especially concerning animations, should be handled. The old regulation left it open to the implementing regulations to decide how many representations of a design should be part of the application at max. It is now still referencing them but specifically requests the Executive Director of the EUIPO to “determine the manner of numbering different views in the event of representation by static views, the formats and size of an electronic file as well as any other relevant technical specification”. We think that this expresses the lawmakers wish that this limit shall be reworked, especially with new animated designs now being added to the scope of protection.

Regulation	Article 36
Regulation 6/2002	5. The application shall comply with the conditions laid down in the implementing regulation. Implementing Regulation: Article 4 – 2. The representation may contain no more than seven different views of the design. Any one graphic or photographic reproduction may contain only one view. The applicant shall number each view using arabic numerals. The number shall consist of separate numerals separated by a point, the numeral to the left of the point indicating the number of the design, that to the right indicating the number of the view.
Regulation 2024/2822	an application for a registered EU design shall comply with the formal requirements laid down in this Regulation and in the implementing acts adopted pursuant to it. To the extent that those requirements relate to the design representation as referred to in paragraph 1, point (c), and the means of representation, the Executive Director shall determine the manner of numbering different views in the event of representation by static views, the formats and size of an electronic file as well as any other relevant technical specification. If those requirements provide for the identification of a subject matter for which no protection is sought by way of certain types of visual disclaimers or for the filing of certain specific types of views, the Executive Director may determine that additional types of visual disclaimers and specific types of views are permitted.’

Phase 3: Repair clause and upcoming end of protection for “must match” parts

Starting with the implementation of the Directive into the national laws of the EU countries, untill December 9th, 2027 concernts the newly introduced repair clause and the end of protection for “must match” parts, such as car parts. The “repair clause” introduces new rules exempting spare parts used for repair of complex products from design protection. This clause is limited to “must match” parts only, i.e. to parts that are used to restore the original appearance of the product. There is a transitional period of 8 years (i.e. until 9 December 2032) that will allow that existing (national) designs of components parts will still enjoy protection during this time.

The new regulation introduces this in new Article 20a 1 EU Directive 2024/2823, which states:

1. Protection shall not be conferred on an EU design which constitutes a component part of a complex product upon whose appearance the design of the component part is dependent, and which is used within the meaning of Article 19(1) for the sole purpose of the repair of that complex product, so as to restore its original appearance.

The full text of the directive can be found here: Directive – EU – 2024/2823 – EN – EUR-Lex

The EU design act introduces many changes into the existing EU design law, which may be tough to navigate at times. Should you have any question concerning the application of an EU design according to the new EU design act, feel free to get in touch with one of our legal experts.

The EU Design Act