European Commission issues Inception Impact Assessment regarding DD and CDR

Article summary

The European Commission has published an Inception Impact Assessment (IIA) on the review of Directive 98/71/EC, the Design Directive (DD) and Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 of 12 December 2001 on Community designs, Community Design Regulation (CDR). The aim of an IIA is to inform citizens and stakeholders of the Commission’s plans to allow feedback to be submitted in response to the proposed initiatives in future consultation activities. A review of the design protection system in the EU identified a number of key shortcomings, including the design protection at Union and national level is not fully adapted to the digital age and lacks clarity and robustness in relation to eligible subject-matter, scope of rights and limitations.