Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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DESIGNS AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2004 (NO. 1) 2004 NO. 22

Subsection 41(1) of the Designs Act 1906 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters which by the Act are required or permitted to be prescribed or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act and for the conduct of any business relating to the Designs Office. Subsection 48(1) of the Act provides that the Governor-General may make regulations declaring that a country specified in the regulations is a Convention country for the purposes of the Act.

The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property provides a right of priority for nationals or residents of member states to claim the date they first filed an application for registration of a design in a Convention country as the date of filing in other Convention countries. To obtain priority in another Convention country, an application for registration of that design must be filed in that country within 6 months of the filing date in the first country. One of the advantages of the right of priority is that when an applicant desires protection in more than one country, the applications are not required to be filed at the same time. The applicant has 6 months to decide the countries in which they wish to file applications and take any appropriate steps to gain protection. As Australia is a member of the Paris Convention this right also applies to Australian nationals filing applications overseas.

The Regulations amend Schedule 2A to the Designs Regulations 1982 to include Saudi Arabia in the list of Convention countries to which the right of priority applies. This reflects the fact that Saudi Arabia has acceded to the Paris Convention, with effect from 11 March 2004.

The Regulations commence on 11 March 2004.