Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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DESIGNS AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2002 (NO. 1) 2002 NO. 316

STATUTORY RULES 2002 No. 316

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources

Designs Act 1906

Designs Amendment Regulations 2002 (No. 1)

Section 41 of the Designs Act 1906 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations for the purposes of the Act, for prescribing matters necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act and for the conduct of any business relating to the Designs Office. Subsection 48(1) of the Act provides that the GovernorGeneral may make regulations declaring that a country specified in the Designs Regulations 1982 is a Convention country for the purposes of the Act.

The Regulations amend Schedule 2A to the Designs Regulations 1982 to update the list of Convention countries.

Details of the amendments made by these regulations are as follows:

Regulation 1 identifies the Regulations as the Designs Amendment Regulations 2002 (No. 1).

Regulation 2 specifies that the Regulations are to commence on gazettal.

Regulation 3 provides Schedule 1 amends the Designs Regulations.

Item 1 of Schedule 1 amends Schedule 2A to the Designs Regulations to include the Seychelles in the list of Convention countries. This will reflect the fact that the Seychelles has acceded to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.

The Paris Convention enables nationals of member states to claim the date they first filed their application for a design as the date of filing in other Convention countries (Article 4). However, the applications must be filed in other Convention countries within 6 months of the filing date in the first country in order to obtain priority. One of the advantages of the right of priority is that when an applicant desires protection in more than one country, the applications are not required to be filed at the same time. The applicant has 6 months to decide which countries in which they wish to file applications and take any appropriate steps to gain protection. As Australia is a member of the Paris Convention this right also applies to Australian nationals filing applications overseas.