THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 608/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 June 2013 concerning customs enforcement of intellectual property rights and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1383/2003, and in particular Article 6(1) and Article 12(7) thereof,
Whereas:
(1)
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1352/2013 establishes the forms to be used to submit an application requesting that customs authorities take action with respect to goods suspected of infringing an intellectual property right, referred to in Article 6 of Regulation (EU) No 608/2013, and to submit a request for extension of the period during which the customs authorities are to take action, referred to in Article 12 of that Regulation (‘the forms’).
(2)
The forms need to be adapted to take into account the introduction of the EU Customs Trader Portal for the electronic submission of the forms. In order to provide a secure access to that portal, it is important that the applicants and their representatives are identified in a unique manner. For that, the Economic Operators Registration and Identification (EORI) number will become a mandatory field in the box for the applicant and the representative in the forms.
(3)
The EORI system already provides unique identification numbers for economic operators. It is appropriate to apply that system also to persons other than economic operators within the meaning of Article 6(1)(a) of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446.
(4)
Regulation (EU) No 386/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and in particular Article 2(2)(b) thereof, assigns to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) the task to collect, analyse and disseminate relevant objective, comparable and reliable data regarding infringements of intellectual property rights.
(5)
In accordance with Article 5(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 386/2012, the Commission forwards to the EUIPO any relevant information related to the suspension of the release or the detention of goods suspected of infringing intellectual property rights that is provided by the Member States in accordance with Article 31(2) of Regulation (EU) No 608/2013.
(6)
In order to enable a deeper analysis of the infringement data and to improve the understanding of the geographical scope and impact of the infringements, it is important that the suspension of the release and the detention of such goods can be attributedto the holder of the decision. It is also important that that person is informed, already when the forms are filed, of the fact that his or her personal data will be provided to the EUIPO and consents to that data transfer. Therefore the forms need to be adapted accordingly.
(7)
Following the entry into application of Regulations (EU) 2016/679 and (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council, the references in the forms to the data protection provisions need to be updated.
(8)
Taking into account that, in accordance with Article 31 of Regulation (EU) No 608/2013, all exchanges of data on decisions relating to applications and detentions between the Member States and the Commission are to be made via the central database of the Commission and that that database needs to be adjusted to the new forms, the amendments to Annexes I to III to Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1352/2013 should apply from 15 September 2020.
(9)
Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1352/2013 should therefore be amended accordingly.
(10)
The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted in accordance with Article 42(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 and delivered an opinion on 24 June 2020.
(11)
The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Customs Code Committee,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: