Initiation of proceedings at the request of a party or ex officio by the customs authorities

An application for action may be lodged by natural or legal persons who are entitled to initiate proceedings to establish whether intellectual property rights have been infringed in the Member State(s) in which action by the customs authorities is requested.

• An application for intervention may be submitted by any natural or legal person who is entitled to initiate proceedings to determine whether intellectual property rights have been infringed in the Member State or Member States in which the intervention of the customs authorities is requested.

  Rights holders may request an intervention in the following ways:

  • collective intellectual property rights management bodies,
  • professional defense organizations,
  • persons or entities authorized to make use of intellectual property rights provided that they have been formally authorized by the owner of the rights to initiate procedures to determine whether intellectual property rights have been violated,
  • holders of an exclusive license provided they have been formally authorized by the rights holder.

• Authorization of a Request for Intervention allows customs authorities to intervene if they suspect that the goods infringe any intellectual property rights.

  It is possible to opt for a national Application for Action which will take effect in the Member State in which it has been authorised or for a Union Application for Action which will take effect in the Member State which has authorised it and in the other Member States in which it has been applied for.

• The request asking the customs authorities to intervene on goods suspected of violating an intellectual property right must be submitted using the electronic form that appears in the procedures on this page, which will contain all the information required by EU regulations. . 

  Except in the cases referred to in Article 3(3) of the Regulation, only one national application and one application to another Member State of the European Union for the same intellectual property right protected in that Member State shall be permitted. In the cases referred to in Article 3(3), more than one Union application shall be permitted.

  The customs authorities shall authorise the application for action within 30 days at the latest.

• The application shall contain the following information:

  a) The personal data of the applicant

  b) Condition of the applicant

  c) Documents proving that the applicant is entitled to submit the application

  d) If the applicant submits the application through a representative, personal data of the person representing him/her and evidence proving his/her power of representation.

  e) The intellectual property right or rights that must be protected

  f) In the case of a request from the Union, the Member States in which the intervention is requested

  g) Specific and technical data on the authentic goods

  h) The information necessary for the customs authorities to easily recognize the goods in question

  (i) Information relevant to customs authorities for the purposes of carrying out the analysis and assessment of the risk of infringement

  j) If the information provided must be subject to restricted processing

  k) The particular data of any representative designated by the applicant to deal with legal aspects or technical issues.

  l) The applicant's commitment to notify the Customs Department of any of the situations provided for in article 15 of Regulation (EU) 608/2013

  (m) the applicant's commitment to communicate and update any information relevant to the customs authorities for the purposes of carrying out the analysis and assessment of the risk of infringement of the intellectual property rights in question.

  n) The applicant's commitment to assume its responsibility in accordance with the conditions established in article 28 of Regulation (EU) 608/2013

  o) The applicant's commitment to assume the costs mentioned in article 29 of Regulation (EU) 608/2013

  p) The consent of the applicant for the data provided to be processed by the Commission and the Member States.

  q) If the applicant also requests the application of the procedure referred to in Article 26 of Regulation (EU) 608/2013 and if, when requested by the customs authorities, he agrees to assume the costs related to the destruction of goods in accordance with the regulations. applicable

Both the holder of the goods and the holder of the decision may, upon request, carry out an inspection of the goods whose release has been suspended or which have been subject to detention. In addition, the holder of the decision may request, at his own expense, the taking and transmission of samples for the purposes of analysis and with a view to facilitating the subsequent procedure in relation to counterfeit or pirated goods. Any analysis of these samples shall be carried out under the sole responsibility of the holder of the decision and, unless circumstances do not permit, with the obligation to return them to the customs authorities once the analysis has been completed and, at the latest, before the goods are released or their retention is terminated. 

• When customs authorities identify goods suspected of infringing any intellectual property right covered by an intervention request, they will suspend the release of the goods or proceed to retain them.

   They must notify this retention to the owner of the goods within one working day of this retention and, subsequently, to the owner of the decision within the same period or as soon as possible thereafter.

   They will also inform both owners of the actual or estimated quantity and nature of the goods, including, where appropriate, available images of them. Likewise, upon request and whenever they have this information, the customs authorities will provide the holder of the decision with the names and addresses of the recipient, sender, declarant or owner of the goods, as well as the customs regime and origin, origin and destination of the goods whose release has been suspended or which have been detained (section 4 article 17 of R (EU) 608/2013)