The Goods Infringing Intellectual Property Rights (Customs) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2010

Statutory Instruments

2010 No. 992

Customs

Intellectual Property

The Goods Infringing Intellectual Property Rights (Customs) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2010

Made

25th March 2010

Laid before Parliament

26th March 2010

Coming into force

16th April 2010

The Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs(1) make the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972(2).

The Commissioners have been designated(3) for the purposes of section 2(2) in relation to counterfeit and pirated goods, goods infringing a patent, goods infringing a supplementary protection certificate, goods infringing plant breeders’ rights, designations of origin, geographical indications and geographical designations, and goods infringing Community plant variety rights.

Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Goods Infringing Intellectual Property Rights (Customs) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2010 and come into force on 16th April 2010.

Amendment of the Goods Infringing Intellectual Property Rights (Customs) Regulations 2004

2.  The Goods Infringing Intellectual Property Rights (Customs) Regulations 2004(4) are amended as follows.

3.  In regulation 2(1), omit the definitions of—

(a) “Community design”;

(b) “Community plant variety right”;

(c) “design right”;

(d) “designation of origin”;

(e) “European patent (UK)”;

(f) “geographical designation”;

(g) “geographical indication”;

(h) “patent”;

(i) “plant breeders’ right”;

(j) “registered design”; and

(k) “supplementary protection certificate”.

4.  In regulation 2(3), for “Article 2(3)”, substitute “Article 2” and, for “Article 3(1)”, substitute “Article 3”.

5.  Omit regulations 4 and 6.

6.  In regulation 7(1)(5)—

(a) for “regulation 4(1)(c)”, substitute “Article 9 of the Council Regulation”; and

(b) in paragraph (a), insert “be” between “may” and “destroyed”.

7.  In regulation 7(5), for “regulation 4(1)(b)”, substitute “Article 9 of the Council Regulation”.

Dave Hartnett

Melanie Dawes

Two of the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs

25th March 2010

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Goods Infringing Intellectual Property Rights (Customs) Regulations 2004 (the 2004 Regulations).

Regulation 3 removes definitions of terms which do not, or no longer, appear in the 2004 Regulations.

Regulation 4 corrects regulation 2(3) of the 2004 Regulations so that it refers to the entirety of the relevant articles in Council Regulation (EC) No 1383/2003 (O.J. L 196/7 2.8.2003) (“the Council Regulation”).

Regulation 5 revokes regulations 4 and 6 of the 2004 Regulations, because they unnecessarily reproduce the provisions of articles 4 and 9.3 of the Council Regulation, which is directly applicable.

Regulation 6 corrects regulation 7(1) of the 2004 Regulations (as amended by S.I. 2010/324), to remove the reference to “regulation 4(1)(c)”, since regulation 4 of the 2004 Regulations is revoked by regulation 5 of these Regulations. Further, the consequence of framing regulation 7(1) of the 2004 Regulations by reference to “regulation 4(1)(c)” was to render the simplified procedure applicable solely in circumstances where goods had been detained in advance of the grant to the right-holder of an application for action, rather than in all circumstances where goods have been detained by the Commissioners under the Council Regulation. Regulation 6 also inserts the missing word ‘be’.

Regulation 7 corrects regulation 7(5) of the 2004 Regulations (as amended by S.I. 2010/324) to remove the reference to “regulation 4(1)(b)”, for the same reasons as those given above, in relation to regulation 6 of these Regulations.

A full Impact Assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen.

(1)

The functions of the Commissioners of Customs and Excise were transferred to the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs by section 5 of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 (c. 11). Section 50(1) of that Act provides that a reference to the Commissioners of Customs and Excise shall be taken as a reference to the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.

(2)

1972 c. 68. Section 2(2) has been amended by section 27(1)(a) of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006 (c. 51) and by section 3(3) of the European Union (Amendment) Act 2008 (c. 7).

(3)

S.I. 1995/751 (in relation to counterfeit and pirated goods), S.I. 1999/654 (in relation to goods infringing a patent and goods infringing a supplementary protection certificate), and S.I. 2004/706 (in relation to goods infringing plant breeders’ rights, designations of origin, geographical indications and geographical designations, and goods infringing Community plant variety rights).

(4)

S.I. 2004/1473, amended by S.I. 2010/324.

(5)

Regulation 7 was substituted by S.I. 2010/324.