EU Design Law Just Got a Makeover: Here’s What Changed in May 2025

In early May 2025, EUIPO (the European Union Intellectual Property Office) has updated the rules for registering designs. These changes aim to make it easier for designers and companies to protect their work by through simple digital tools reflective of the current online world standard. Let’s take a closer look at what’s new—and what stays the same.

The term “Registered Community Design (RCD)” has officially been replaced with “Registered EU Design (REUD)” and all related directives and regulations have also been renamed.

This symbolic shift reinforces the design system’s alignment with broader EU branding and legal frameworks.

EU design applications can no longer be filed through national IP offices or by submitting physical prototypes. These rarely used options have now been formally retired in favor of EUIPO’s streamlined digital platform.

This simplifies the system and standardizes how designs enter the EU market — but assumes basic level of designers’ digital literacy.

The application fee now includes registration and publication, removing the need for separate payments and reducing unpleasant surprises.

One key change: if you don’t pay, you don’t get a filing date. Payment must be made within one month of filing.

Also, the second discount tier for large multiple applications (11+ designs) is gone. Now, each additional design beyond the first costs €125, no matter how many you include.

Designers can now include designs from different Locarno classes in a single multiple application — the previous requirement for “unity of class” is gone.

This better reflects how business actually work in practice: a company might want to registered a brand for bags, shoes, and jewelry within the same line.

To protect personal data and prevent misuse, only a design holder’s:

• name,
• city,
• and country

will appear in the register. No more street addresses or nationality entries (except where still required for filing identification).

Don’t worry about the fine print—design is your job, filing is ours.

With 30+ years of experience, we know how to get your designs registered quickly, correctly, and cost-effectively.

Let’s talk about how we can help - contact us today!

Text: ‘The 2025 EUIPO Guidelines’. EUIPO, https://www.euipo.europa.eu/en/news/the-2025-euipo-guidelines. Accessed 5 June 2025.

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