The draft regulation on receipt of paper applications, issuance of application examination results and grant of industrial property certificates in Vietnam in 2022 has just been publicized. The main notable aspects that businesses should take extra note of will be summarized by SB in the following article.
This Regulation stipulates the procedures for receiving all kinds of applications filed or sent to the NOIP in paper form and is applicable to units and individuals assigned to perform tasks such as:
• Receive all kinds of applications that are related to the registration of industrial property in Vietnam;
• Issue the results of the examination of the industrial property application when the examination has been completed;
• Issue certificates for industrial property subjects;
• Conducting transactions with the applicant, and persons with related rights and interests for the purpose of exchanging information and documents;
• Calculating charges and fees.
Transaction time with the IP agency in Vietnam
The receipt of various types of applications and related documents shall be carried out according to the following timeframe within the working days of the agencies:
• Morning: 08h00′ to 11h00′;
• Afternoon: 13h00′ to 16h00′;
The return of results of an examination of industrial property registration applications and other transactions shall be made according to the office hours of the NOIP:
• Morning: 08:00′ to 11:45′;
• Afternoon: 13h00′ to 17h00′.
Receive application
When receiving applications as well as handling works related to the receiving of industrial property registration, the person in charge will conduct the following tasks:
• Categorize applications.
• Assess the admissibility to make a conclusion whether to officially accept the application or not.
• Enter preliminary information about the application into the Application Number System and apply for an application number.
• Process officially received applications.
• Identify the Unit/Department with the next processing function and task and transfer the application to that department.
Issuance of application examination results
Each day, the Registration Office will print all kinds of official documents related to the examination process in the application administration system, take stamps at the Bureau’s Office, and send the results back to the applicant.
The application examination results are returned to the applicant (signed and forwarded) in the following manner:
• The Registration Office delivers examination results directly to the applicant at the Department’s headquarters at the request of the applicant;
• The Bureau’s office sends examination results by post to Representative Offices for direct delivery to applicants at Representative Offices at the applicant’s request; or
• The Bureau’s office sends examination results by post to the applicant if the applicant does not request to receive them in person at the headquarters of the Department or at the representative offices.
Issuance of the protection certificates
When receiving applications for industrial property registration that have been examined and transferred by the Examination Units to the Registration Office to carry out the procedures for granting certificates, the officers assigned to receive them must perform the following tasks:
• Checking application dossiers: the receiving officer must check and verify that the application dossier contains all documents and signatures of the examiner, the unit leader, and the head of the Department. In case the application is found to be insufficient with the above-mentioned elements, it must be returned to the corresponding examination unit.
• Monitoring charges and fees for granting certificates: The payment of fees and charges for granting certificates must be carefully checked.
• Issuance of a protection certificate: The protection certificate is granted based on the results of the application examination shown in the Examination Report prepared by the Examiner (with full signatures of the Examiner, Unit Leaders, and head of the Department), application data in paper records and application data in the application administration system.
To receive support on issues related to intellectual property rights such as Vietnam patent, trademark, industrial design, copyright and Vietnam plant variety protection, please contact SB, the top tier Vietnam IP Law Firm support.
