January 16, 2006
Especially after the communist period, Romania has been one of the territories counterfeiters used to pass goods from the East to the West. The very low prices of counterfeit goods, the unaware and uneducated Romanian population and the '90s have never been very good friends of the IP right holders. It was only in 2000 when the Romanian Parliament passed the first law regarding the enforcement of intellectual property rights during customs procedures. A few years later, in 2005, the fairly well trained Customs workers were able to block most of the counterfeited merchandise that was trying to enter EU territory through Romania. Some of the most famous trademarks that are constantly infringed by large imports and exports of counterfeit goods include: adidas, Nike, Puma, Ferrari, Christian Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Tefal (kitchenware), Marlboro (gear and clothing), Formula 1 (promotional goods and clothing), Louis Vuitton and Barbie.
But 2006 brings some even better news for all intellectual property right holders: a new law has been adopted by the Romanian Parliament, effective starting the 3rd of February.
This short article will highlight the most important additions and modifications brought by this new Law to the procedure as well as its advantages.
The first and most important change is that the official fees have been eliminated. It is now completely free of charge to file an application for the protection of IP rights with the Romanian Customs Authority (except for the Attorney Fees).
Another important issue is that the guarantee equal to the value of the seized goods that was supposed to be deposited under the provisions of the previous law has been eliminated as well. However, the holder of the IP rights has to make a statement that it will cover any damages caused to the transporter and/or owner of the goods in case the Court's Decision is in favour of the latter as well as all storage, transportation and other related costs. IP right holders that have filed an application for Customs protection under the previous law must make this statement and file it with the Customs Authority within 10 working days from February 3, 2006.
And last but not least, the law comes in favour of the IP right holder even further and introduces a procedure for destroying the counterfeit goods without a Court Decision. As such, after the seizure of the suspected goods, the Customs Authority sends notifications to both the holder and the owner/transporter of the blocked goods and, in case the latter does not answer to this notification within 10 days, the holder of the infringed IP rights can successfully demand the destruction of the respective goods.
Other important provisions are:
In conclusion, the new law is a step further in the harmonization with the EU laws, in what concerns the enforcement of IP rights and it is expected that more and more IP right holders will use this procedure, especially in the light of the acquired efficiency of the Romanian Customs Authority.