Introductory text

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 40/94 of 20 December 1993 on the Community trade mark^f1, and in particular Article 139 thereof,

Whereas:

According to the Regulation (EC) No 40/94, as implemented by Commission Regulation (EC) No 2868/95 of 13 December 1995 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 40/94 on the Community trade mark^f2, additional fees concerning search reports, division of a trade mark application or registration and continuation of proceedings should be established. The amounts of those new fees should be fixed.

The search regime becomes optional from 10 March 2008 as provided for in Article 2 paragraph 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 422/2004. From that date, the additional fee for national search reports should apply.

Commission Regulation (EC) No 2869/95^f3 should therefore be amended accordingly.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee on Fees, Implementation Rules and the Procedure of the Boards of Appeal of the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (trade marks and designs),

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: