2024 EU design reform

The 2024 EU design reform rests on two instruments adopted together: Regulation (EU) 2024/2822, which amends Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 on Community designs, and Directive (EU) 2024/2823, which recasts Directive 98/71/EC on the legal protection of national designs. The Regulation has applied for the most part since 1 May 2025, certain provisions requiring implementing acts applying only from 1 July 2026. The Directive must be transposed by the Member States by 9 December 2027.

Substantive changes

The Community design becomes the “European Union design”, and the unregistered right is renamed in the same way. The definition of product is extended to any industrial or handicraft item, whether physical or not, so that graphical user interfaces, virtual environments and digital creations are expressly covered, and the definition of design now includes the movement, transition and animation of features. The exclusive right is supplemented: creating, downloading, copying and sharing any medium or software recording the design for the purpose of reproducing it, in particular by 3D printing, are reserved acts, and the holder may oppose the transit of infringing goods even where they are not released for free circulation. The repair clause is made permanent and accompanied by an obligation to inform consumers of the origin of the part.

Procedural changes

Applications must now be filed exclusively with the EUIPO, filing through national offices having been abolished. Multiple applications are no longer limited to products in the same class of the Locarno Classification, subject to a maximum number of designs per application. Filing and publication fees are merged into a single fee, while renewal fees are raised progressively to encourage the surrender of unused rights. The means of representation are relaxed to admit digital formats.

Harmonisation through the Directive

The Directive aligns national laws with the EU regime, adopting the broader definitions, the new reserved acts, the rules on representation and the repair clause, which becomes mandatory for all Member States. A transitional period protects national designs for spare parts registered before the Directive’s entry into force. It also requires national offices to provide an administrative invalidity procedure, which does not currently exist in France before the INPI for designs. The French Intellectual Property Code will therefore have to be amended on several points.

Key points

The 2024 reform modernises the EU right, now the “European Union design”, by covering digital creations, 3D printing and transit, simplifying multiple filings and fees, and extending the repair clause across the board. Portfolios should be reviewed in light of the new renewal fees, filing strategies for digital creations should be revisited and French transposition, expected before the end of 2027, should be monitored.

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This glossary entry is general in scope and does not constitute legal advice.

Dhenne Avocats is a patent litigation firm. Matters outside that field, such as trade marks, designs, copyright and IT contracts, are handled by practitioners the firm works with regularly, and by the firm itself when they arise in a patent dispute.

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