On November 10, 2022, the 16th session of the Intellectual Property Advisory Office for exporters completes its work.
The rightholder of a trademark, included in the national customs register of intellectual property objects of the Republic of Belarus, received a notification on the suspension of the release period of goods marked with its trademark from one of the customs clearance offices of the Gomel Customs as part of the procedure for the adoption by the belarussian customs authorities of measures to protect intellectual property rights in relation to the trademark. The declarant, namely a Belarusian company from Minsk, is a partner of the rightholder and the latter sent to the customs clearance office an Application with permission for the declarant to import goods, marked with the trademark of the rightholder, into the territory of the Republic of Belarus and with a request to cancel the decision to suspend the release of goods.
At the same time, the management of the customs clearance office refused the rightholder to accept an application with a request to cancel the decision to suspend the release of goods from the declarant and recommended to contact its representative to submit such an application.
The rightholder's question concerned the legality of the recommendation of the customs authority.
The answer concerned the procedure for customs protection of intellectual property rights in the Republic of Belarus.
One of the main functions of the customs authorities of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union is to ensure the protection of intellectual property rights within their competence.
The customs authorities of each member state of the Eurasian Economic Union keep their national customs registers of intellectual property objects in accordance with the legislation of their respective member states of the Eurasian Economic Union.
The State Customs Committee of the Republic of Belarus keeps the national customs register of intellectual property objects in accordance with Chapter 52 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On Customs Regulation in the Republic of Belarus" (hereinafter – the Law). In order to include a trademark or other intellectual property object (see paragraph 2 of Article 289 of the Law) in the national register, the rightholder (his representative) must submit to the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Belarus an application for the adoption of measures to protect intellectual property rights (hereinafter – the Application) by customs authorities.
In accordance with Article 124 "Suspension of the release period of goods containing intellectual property objects and renewal of the release period of such goods" of the Customs Code of the Eurasian Economic Union (see paragraph 9):
9. The decision to suspend the release period of goods is subject to cancellation before the end of term in the following cases:
1) the customs authority has received an application to cancel such a decision from the rightholder or a person representing his interests or the interests of several rightholders.
The comment on this norm is provided on the website of the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Belarus
https://www.customs.gov.by/zashchita-prav-na-obekty-intellektualnoy-sobstvennosti/mery-po-zashchite-prav-intellektualnoy-sobstvennosti/
in the section "Measures to protect intellectual property rights:
Before the expiration of the established period of suspension of the period of release of goods, the rightholder or a person representing his interests may apply to the customs authority with an application for cancellation of the decision to suspend the period of release of goods.
Based on the above, we believe that the trademark owner's application was legitimate.
