With the changes to EU Design law coming into force on 1 May 2025, there are changes to how renewal periods are calculated.  There are also significant increases to the renewal fees.

Holders of EU designs should check carefully that they monitor renewal deadlines according to the new rules from 1 May 2025, especially as these deadlines will now fall a few days earlier in most cases. Consideration should also be given to early payment, where possible, to take advantage of the current lower fees.

Changes to Renewal Periods

EU design registrations need to be renewed every 5 years to maintain the design registration. The fees can be validly paid within a six month “basic renewal period”, and failing that, they can be paid within a further six month “grace period” with a late fee surcharge (25% of the original fee).

Under the old regulation, the “basic renewal period” extended to the last day of the month containing the anniversary of the filing date, i.e. renewals were calculated in a similar manner to European and UK patents.

Under the amended regulation, the “basic renewal period” now extends up to the anniversary of the filing date, i.e. it no longer rolls to the end of the month.  This process is more aligned with EU Trade Marks.

Under the amended regulation, the “grace period” extends for six months after expiry of the registration and thus will also end six months after the anniversary of the filing date.

Changes to the Renewal Fees

It is worth noting that the renewal fees are increasing significantly on 1 May 2025.  In particular, the second renewal fee is increasing by a factor of over two, the third renewal by a factor of almost three and the fourth renewal by a factor of almost four.

How the changes will be implemented

Fee amount

With regard to the fee itself, the EUIPO has announced that it will use the date of the request for renewal as the date to determine which fee applies.

This means that any Registered Community Designs (soon to be “EU Designs”) which are already within their “basic renewal period” can be renewed now at the current, lower fee.  This includes any registered designs with a renewal date up to 30 September 2025.

Any request for renewal on or after 1 May 2025 will incur the new, higher fee.

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Regarding the renewal deadline, this is slightly more complicated.  According to the EUIPO’s guidance (here and here), where the “basic renewal period” starts to run before 1 May 2025, the old law will be applied (i.e. the “basic renewal period” will run to the end of the month and the “grace period” will extend six months after that).  Where the “basic renewal period” starts to run after 1 May 2025, the new law will be applied (i.e. the “basic renewal period” will end with the anniversary of the filing date and the “grace period” will extend six months after that).

The EUIPO guidance gives two examples for calculating these periods:

Example 1 – Renewal date before 1 May 2025

For a registered EU design filed on 15 April 2020, the “basic renewal period” runs from 1 November 2024 to 30 April 2025 (the old law applies).

Example 2 – Renewal date after 1 May 2025

For a registered EU design filed on 23 November 2020, the “basic renewal period” runs from 24 May 2025 to 23 November 2025.

Unfortunately, these examples only cover registered designs where the whole of the basic period lies before or after the law change.  They do not cover designs where the new law comes into force in the middle of the basic period.

From the wording of the guidance, it seems clear that designs with a filing anniversary up to 30 September 2025 will follow the old law (i.e. the basic period will extend to the end of the month containing the anniversary).

However, this still leaves ambiguity about designs with a filing anniversary between 1 October and 29 October 2025.  For these designs, the basic renewal period under the old law would not have commenced until 1 May 2025.  However, under the new law, a six month period calculated from the anniversary of the filing date (rather than from the end of that month) would extend back into April.  Nevertheless, one reasonable interpretation could be that a basic period under the new law cannot have started running before the new law came into effect.  Therefore, for any designs with a filing anniversary on or after 1 October 2025, we recommend assuming that the renewal is due by the anniversary of the filing date and the grace period extends six months from that date.

For further information, please speak to your usual Dehns attorney, or contact one of our Designs experts shown below.