Compiled from an official source version. Later amendments or repeals may not be reflected; the official text prevails. · Read the official text ↗
Legal status
1. The Office shall be an agency of the Union. It shall have legal personality. 2. In each of the Member States the Office shall enjoy the most extensive legal capacity accorded to legal persons under their laws; it may, in particular, acquire or dispose of movable and immovable property and may be a party to legal proceedings. 3. The Office shall be represented by its Executive Director.
Staff
1. The Staff Regulations, the Conditions of Employment and the rules adopted by agreement between the institutions of the Union for giving effect to those Staff Regulations and Conditions of Employment shall apply to the staff of the Office, without prejudice to the application of Article 166 of this Regulation to the members of the Boards of Appeal. 2. Without prejudice to paragraph 1, the Office may make use of seconded national experts or other staff not employed by the Office. The Management Board shall adopt a decision laying down rules on the secondment to the Office of national experts.
Privileges and immunities
The Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the Union shall apply to the Office and its staff.
Liability
1. The contractual liability of the Office shall be governed by the law applicable to the contract in question. 2. The Court of Justice shall be competent to give judgment pursuant to any arbitration clause contained in a contract concluded by the Office. 3. In the case of non-contractual liability, the Office shall, in accordance with the general principles common to the laws of the Member States, make good any damage caused by its departments or by its servants in the performance of their duties. 4. The Court of Justice shall have jurisdiction in disputes relating to compensation for the damage referred to in paragraph 3. 5. The personal liability of its servants towards the Office shall be governed by the provisions laid down in the Staff Regulations or in the Conditions of Employment applicable to them.
Languages
1. The application for an EU trade mark shall be filed in one of the official languages of the Union. 2. The languages of the Office shall be English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. 3. The applicant shall indicate a second language which shall be a language of the Office the use of which he accepts as a possible language of proceedings for opposition, revocation or invalidity proceedings. If the application was filed in a language which is not one of the languages of the Office, the Office shall arrange to have the application, as described in Article 31(1), translated into the language indicated by the applicant. 4. Where the applicant for an EU trade mark is the sole party to proceedings before the Office, the language of proceedings shall be the language used for filing the application for an EU trade mark. If the application was made in a language other than the languages of the Office, the Office may send written communications to the applicant in the second language indicated by the applicant in his application. 5. The notice of opposition and an application for revocation or a declaration of invalidity shall be filed in one of the languages of the Office. 6. Without prejudice to paragraph 5: (a) any application or declaration relating to an EU trade mark application may be filed in the language used for filing the application for that EU trade mark or in the second language indicated by the applicant in his application; (b) any application or declaration relating to a registered EU trade mark may be filed in one of the languages of the Office. However, when the application is filed by using any form provided by the Office as referred to in Article 100(2), such forms may be used in any of the official languages of the Union, provided that the form is completed in one of the languages of the Office, as far as textual elements are concerned. 7. If the language chosen, in accordance with paragraph 5, for the notice of opposition or the application for revocation or invalidity is the language of the application for a trade mark or the second language indicated when the application was filed, that language shall be the language of the proceedings. If the language chosen, in accordance with paragraph 5, for the notice of opposition or the application for revocation or invalidity is neither the language of the application for a trade mark nor the second language indicated when the application was filed, the opposing party or the party seeking revocation or invalidity shall be required to produce, at his own expense, a translation of his application either into the language of the application for a trade mark, provided that it is a language of the Office, or into the second language indicated when the application was filed. The translation shall be produced within one month of the expiry of the opposition period or of the date of filing an application for revocation or a declaration of invalidity. The language into which the application has been translated shall then become the language of the proceedings. 8. Parties to opposition, revocation, invalidity or appeal proceedings may agree that a different official language of the Union is to be the language of the proceedings. 9. Without prejudice to paragraphs 4 and 8, and unless provided otherwise, in written proceedings before the Office any party may use any language of the Office. If the language chosen is not the language of the proceedings, the party shall supply a translation into that language within one month of the date of the submission of the original document. Where the applicant for an EU trade mark is the sole party to proceedings before the Office and the language used for the filing of the application for the EU trade mark is not one of the languages of the Office, the translation may also be filed in the second language indicated by the applicant in his application. 10. The Executive Director shall determine the manner in which translations are to be certified. 11. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts specifying: (a) the extent to which supporting documents to be used in written proceedings before the Office may be filed in any language of the Union, and the need to supply a translation; (b) the requisite standards of translations to be filed with the Office. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to Article 207(2).
Publication and entries in the Register
1. An application for an EU trade mark, as described in Article 31(1), and all other information the publication of which is prescribed by this Regulation or an act adopted pursuant to this Regulation, shall be published in all the official languages of the Union. 2. All entries in the Register shall be made in all the official languages of the Union. 3. In cases of doubt, the text in the language of the Office in which the application for the EU trade mark was filed shall be authentic. If the application was filed in an official language of the Union other than one of the languages of the Office, the text in the second language indicated by the applicant shall be authentic.
Translation services
The translation services required for the functioning of the Office shall be provided by the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union.
Transparency
1. Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 16 ) shall apply to documents held by the Office. 2. The Management Board shall adopt detailed rules for applying Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. 3. Decisions taken by the Office under Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 may be challenged through the European Ombudsman or form the subject of an action before the Court of Justice of the European Union, under the conditions laid down in Articles 228 and 263 TFEU respectively. 4. The processing of personal data by the Office shall be subject to Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 17 ) .
Security rules on the protection of classified and sensitive non-classified information
The Office shall apply the security principles contained in the Commission's security rules for protecting European Union Classified Information (EUCI) and sensitive non-classified information, as set out in Commission Decisions (EU, Euratom) 2015/443 ( 18 ) and 2015/444 ( 19 ) . The security principles shall cover, inter alia, provisions for the exchange, processing and storage of such information.
Articles on this page are reproduced verbatim from official open data. See the attribution line.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.