Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1209 of 13 August 2020 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1352/2013 establishing the forms provided for in Regulation (EU) No 608/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning customs enforcement of intellectual property rights

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 608/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 June 2013 concerning customs enforcement of intellectual property rights and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1383/2003 ¹, and in particular Article 6(1) and Article 12(7) thereof,

Whereas:

• (1) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1352/2013 ² establishes the forms to be used to submit an application requesting that customs authorities take action with respect to goods suspected of infringing an intellectual property right, referred to in Article 6 of Regulation (EU) No 608/2013, and to submit a request for extension of the period during which the customs authorities are to take action, referred to in Article 12 of that Regulation (‘the forms’).

• (2) The forms need to be adapted to take into account the introduction of the EU Customs Trader Portal for the electronic submission of the forms. In order to provide a secure access to that portal, it is important that the applicants and their representatives are identified in a unique manner. For that, the Economic Operators Registration and Identification (EORI) number will become a mandatory field in the box for the applicant and the representative in the forms.

• (3) The EORI system already provides unique identification numbers for economic operators. It is appropriate to apply that system also to persons other than economic operators within the meaning of Article 6(1)(a) of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 ³.

• (4) Regulation (EU) No 386/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁴, and in particular Article 2(2)(b) thereof, assigns to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) the task to collect, analyse and disseminate relevant objective, comparable and reliable data regarding infringements of intellectual property rights.

• (5) In accordance with Article 5(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 386/2012, the Commission forwards to the EUIPO any relevant information related to the suspension of the release or the detention of goods suspected of infringing intellectual property rights that is provided by the Member States in accordance with Article 31(2) of Regulation (EU) No 608/2013.

• (6) In order to enable a deeper analysis of the infringement data and to improve the understanding of the geographical scope and impact of the infringements, it is important that the suspension of the release and the detention of such goods can be attributedto the holder of the decision. It is also important that that person is informed, already when the forms are filed, of the fact that his or her personal data will be provided to the EUIPO and consents to that data transfer. Therefore the forms need to be adapted accordingly.

• (7) Following the entry into application of Regulations (EU) 2016/679 ⁵ and (EU) 2018/1725 ⁶ of the European Parliament and of the Council, the references in the forms to the data protection provisions need to be updated.

• (8) Taking into account that, in accordance with Article 31 of Regulation (EU) No 608/2013, all exchanges of data on decisions relating to applications and detentions between the Member States and the Commission are to be made via the central database of the Commission and that that database needs to be adjusted to the new forms, the amendments to Annexes I to III to Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1352/2013 should apply from 15 September 2020.

• (9) Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1352/2013 should therefore be amended accordingly.

• (10) The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted in accordance with Article 42(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 and delivered an opinion on 24 June 2020.

• (11) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Customs Code Committee,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1352/2013 is amended as follows:

• (1) Annex I is replaced by the text in Annex I to this Regulation;

• (2) Annex II is replaced by the text in Annex II to this Regulation;

• (3) Annex III is amended in accordance with Annex III to this Regulation.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply from 15 September 2020.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 13 August 2020.

For the Commission

The President

Ursula VON DER LEYEN

ANNEX I

‘ANNEX I

Image omitted; see official source

Image omitted; see official source

Image omitted; see official source

Image omitted; see official source

Image omitted; see official source

Image omitted; see official source

Image omitted; see official source

Image omitted; see official source

Image omitted; see official source

Image omitted; see official source

’

ANNEX II

‘ANNEX II

Image omitted; see official source

Image omitted; see official source

Image omitted; see official source

Image omitted; see official source

’

ANNEX III

‘ANNEX III

Annex III to Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1352/2013 is amended as follows:

• (1) Part I is amended as follows:

• (a) in the note on the completion of box 1 (‘Applicant’), the text is replaced by the following:

‘Details concerning the applicant shall be entered in this box. It shall contain information on the name and complete address of the applicant, his or her Economic Operator Registration and Identification Number (EORI-No), which is a number, unique throughout the Union, assigned by a customs authority in a Member State to the applicant, his or her telephone, mobile telephone or fax number and his or her email address. The applicant may also enter, where appropriate, his Taxpayer Identification Number, any other national registration number and the address of his or her website.’;

• (b) in the note on the completion of box 4 (‘Representative submitting the application in the name of the applicant’), the text is replaced by the following:

‘Where the application is submitted by the applicant by means of a representative, details concerning that representative shall be entered in this box. Those details shall contain information on the name and complete address of the representative, his or her Economic Operator Registration and Identification Number (EORI-No), which is a number, unique throughout the Union, assigned by a customs authority in a Member State to the representative, his or her telephone, mobile telephone or fax number and his or her email address. The representative may also enter, where appropriate, the name of the company where he or she works and the address of the company’s website. The application shall include evidence of his or her power to act as a representative in accordance with the legislation of the Member State where the application is submitted and the corresponding box shall be ticked.’;

• (2) Part II is replaced by the following:

‘II.   SPECIFICATIONS OF THE BOXES OF THE REQUEST FOR EXTENSION FORM SET OUT IN ANNEX II TO BE FILLED IN BY THE HOLDER OF THE DECISION

Fields in the form marked with an asterisk (*) are mandatory fields and shall be filled in.

In boxes where fields are marked with a plus (+) at least one of these fields shall be filled in.

Do not enter data in the boxes marked ‘for official use’.

Box 1: Details concerning the holder of the decision

Details concerning the holder of the decision shall be entered in this box.

Box 2: Representative of the holder of the decision

Where the request is submitted by the holder of the decision by means of a representative, details concerning that representative shall be entered in this box. Those details shall contain information on the name and complete address of the representative, his or her Economic Operator Registration and Identification Number (EORI-No), which is a number, unique throughout the Union, assigned by a customs authority in a Member State to the representative, his or her telephone, mobile telephone or fax number and his or her email address. The representative may also enter, where appropriate, the name of the company where he or she works and the address of the company’s website. If not submitted with the initial application, the request shall include evidence of his or her power to act as a representative in accordance with the legislation of the Member State where the initial decision was adopted and the corresponding box shall be ticked.

Box 3: Extension request

The application registration number including the first two digits with the iso/alpha-2 code of the Member State of granting shall be entered in this box. The holder of the decision shall likewise indicate whether he or she is requesting modifications to the information contained in the application by ticking the appropriate box.

Box 4: Signature

In box 4, the holder of the decision or the representative of the holder of the decision shall enter the place and date of completion of the request and shall sign. The signatory’s name shall be given in block capitals.’

’