CIRCULAR[1]

PRESCRIBING FEES AND CHARGES RELATING TO INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY RIGHTS, COLLECTION, TRANSFER, MANAGEMENT AND USE THEREOF

The Circular No. 263/2016/TT-BTC dated November 14, 2016 of the Minister of Finance prescribing fees and charges relating to industrial property rights, collection, transfer, management and use thereof, coming into force from January 01, 2017, is amended by:  

The Circular No. 31/2020/TT-BTC dated May 04, 2020 of the Minister of Finance providing amendments to the Circular No. 263/2016/TT-BTC dated November 14, 2016 of the Minister of Finance prescribing fees and charges relating to industrial property rights, collection, transfer, management and use thereof, and coming into force from July 01, 2020.

Pursuant to the Law on fees and charges dated November 25, 2015;

Pursuant to the Law on state budget dated June 25, 2015;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP dated August 23, 2016 detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on fees and charges;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 103/2006/ND-CP dated September 22, 2006 detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Intellectual property regarding industrial property and the Government's Decree No. 122/2010/ND-CP dated December 31, 2010 providing amendments to the Decree No. 103/2006/ND-CP.

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At the request of the Director of the Tax Policy Department;

The Minister of Finance promulgates the Circular prescribing the fees and charges relating to industrial property rights, collection, transfer, management and use thereof.[2]

Article 1. Scope and regulated entities

1. Scope

This Circular provides regulations on fees and charges relating to industrial property rights (IPR), collection, management and use thereof.

2. Regulated entities

This Circular applies to organizations and individuals applying for IPR protection, regulatory authorities providing IPR protection services and other organizations and individuals involved in the collection and transfer of charges and fees relating to IPRs.

Article 2. Payers 

Vietnamese and foreign organizations and individuals applying for protection of industrial property rights shall pay charges and fees according to regulations laid down herein.

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The National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam providing IPR protection services shall collect charges and fees relating to IPRs (hereinafter referred to as “collector”).

Article 4. Fees and charges

1.[3] Fees and charges relating to IPRs shall be paid at the rates prescribed in the Schedule of fees and charges relating to IPRs enclosed herewith. In cases where an international treaty to which Vietnam is a signatory provides for the fees relating to IPRs different from the ones prescribed in this Circular (except fees for international registration of marks under the Madrid Protocol in which Vietnam is designated as prescribed in Point 6.4 Section B of the Schedule of fees and charges relating to IPRs enclosed herewith), the fees shall be paid according to that international treaty.

2. Charges and fees prescribed in this Circular shall be paid in VND, except for fees paid via the International Bureau of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) which may be paid in Swiss Franc (CHF) by means of converting the fee amounts in VND according to UN operational rates of exchange.

3. Organizations and individuals shall pay IPR-related charges and fees directly or by post to the collector or by bank transfer to the collector’s account.

With regard to fees paid via the International Bureau of WIPO: Fees shall be paid by bank transfer to the collector’s account opened at a commercial bank or credit institution in Vietnam.

Article 5. Declaration and transfer of fees and charges

1. Not later than Monday of every week, the collector shall transfer the entire amount of fees collected in the previous week to the dedicated state budget account opened at the State Treasury.

2. The collector shall monthly declare collected fees and charges, and make annual statements of fees and charges in accordance with regulations in Clause 3 Article 19 and transfer the collected fees and charges to state budget in accordance with regulations in Clause 2 Article 26 of the Circular No. 156/2013/TT-BTC dated November 06, 2013 of the Minister of Finance providing guidance on the Law on Tax Administration, the Law on amendments to the Law on Tax Administration and the Government's Decree No. 83/2013/ND-CP dated July 22, 2013.

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1. The collector shall transfer total amount of collected fees to state budget according to the list of state budget entries.

2.[4] The collector shall retain 50% of total amount of collected fees for covering costs of rendering services and collecting fees according to Article 5 of the Government's Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP dated August 23, 2016 elaborating the Law on Fees and Charges, and transfer the remaining amount (50%) of collected fees to state budget according to the list of state budget entries.

Article 7. Implementation [5]

1. This Circular comes into force from January 01, 2017 and replaces the Circular No. 22/2009/TT-BTC dated February 04, 2009 of the Minister of Finance and Clause 1 Article 1 of Circular No. 152/2013/TT-BTC dated October 29, 2013 of the Minister of Finance.

2. If an application for IPR protection has been submitted before the effective date of this Circular but has not been processed and for which charges and/or fees have not been paid, and is now processed as requested, charges and/or fees shall be paid according to regulations laid down herein.

3. Other contents related to the collection, transfer, management and use of fees and charges relating to IPRs, which are not provided for in this Circular, shall be performed in conformity with regulations of the Law on fees and charges, the Government's Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP dated August 23, 2016, the Circular No. 156/2013/TT-BTC dated November 06, 2013 by Minister of Finance, Circulars of the Minister of Finance providing for printing, issuance, management and use of receipts of fees and charges as state budget revenues and any amending or superseding documents.

4. Payers and relevant agencies are responsible for the implementation of this Circular. Difficulties that arise during the implementation of this Circular should be promptly reported to Ministry of Finance for consideration./.

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PP MINISTER
DEPUTY MINISTER




Vu Thi Mai

SCHEDULE OF FEES AND CHARGES RELATING TO INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

(Enclosed to the Circular No. 263/2016/TT-BTC dated November 14, 2016 by Minister of Finance)

No.

IPR-related fees and charges

Rates (VND thousand)

Inventions

(including utility models)

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Marks

Geographical indication

Layout designs of integrated circuits

1

Fees for processing of application for registration of IPR protection

1.1

Application filing fee (including secondary application and conversion application)

150

1.2

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120

2

Fees for issuance of protection titles and certificates of registration of IPR assignment contracts

2.1

 Fee for issuance of protection title

120

- With regard to a patent application with an independent claim in excess of 01, an application for registration of industrial design with more than 01 design for each product, or a trademark registration application with 01 group of products or services, additional fee for each excess independent claim, design or group of products/services

100

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100

2.2

Fees for issuance certificates of registration of IPR assignment contracts

120

3

Fees for maintenance, extension, termination and cancellation of IPR protection titles

3.1

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100

100

100

3.2

Late payment of maintenance/renewal fee (for each late payment month)

10% of maintenance/renewal fee

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3.3

Fee for application for termination/cancellation of a protection title

50

4

Fees for processing of applications for industrial property (IP) representation practice certificates, announcement and registration of IP representatives

4.1

Fee for processing of an application for IP representation practice certificate

200

4.2

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150

4.3

Fee for registration of a decision on issuance of IP representation practice certificate (including modification of information), decision on removal of IP representative’s name, decision on acknowledgement/removal of IP representation body (including modification of information on an IP representative)

150

1

Appraisal charges

1.1

Charges for appraisal of IP registration application; applications for narrowing of protection scope; for complaint handling (regarding inventions: for each independent claim in the patent application; regarding industrial designs: for each design of each product; regarding marks: for each group of up to 6 products/services; regarding geographical indications and layout designs of integrated circuits: for each application). Regarding an invention: Charges for appraisal of its appearance and contents shall equal 20% and 80% respectively of the prescribed appraisal charge.

900

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550

1200

180

- Regarding an invention description comprising of more than 6 pages or a mark registration application covering more than 6 products/services of a group, surcharge for each excess page or product/service:

40

120

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- Charge for international classification of inventions or industrial designs (each subheading); goods/services in case of mark registration (for each group of not exceeding 6 products/services)

100

100

100

+ For a group of more than 6 products/services, surcharge for each excess product/service:

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20

1.2

Charge for appraisal of priority claim (each application or claim)

600

600

600

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1.3

Charge for appraisal of changes to an IP registration application (for each change to the application), except changes made according to the protection title issued by a foreign authority at the collector’s request

160

160

160

160

160

1.4

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160

160

160

160

1.5

Charge for appraisal of application for registration of IPR assignment (for each protection title)

230

230

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230

1.6

Charge for appraisal of an application for renewal, maintenance or modification of the protection title; renewal or early termination of certificate of contract on assignment of rights to use IP objects (for each protection title); recording of changes in information about IP representative relevant to IP objects in the National Register of Industrial Property; changes to certificate of contract on assignment of rights to use IP objects, including: change of assignment scope, renewal (for each protection title rerating to such change) and other change (for each certificate)

160

160

160

160

160

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1.7

Charge for appraisal of application for termination of protection title (for each protection title)

180

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180

180

180

1.8

Charge for appraisal of application for cancellation of protection title (for each protection title)

390

390

390

390

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1.9

Charge for appraisal of application for inspection of IP representation operations or IP assessment operations (for each subject)

300

1.10

Charge for review of inspection results of IP representation operations or IP assessment operations (for each subject)

150

1.11

Charge for appraisal of application for IP representation practice certificate, IP assessor’s card, certificate of qualified IP assessment body, or application for removal of IP representative’s name, acknowledgement/removal of IP representation body or IP assessment body (including modification of information on an IP representative)

250

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2

Charges for processing requests for opposition to IP applications

Charge for handling of a third party’s opposition to the issuance of a protection title (regarding mark registration: for each group; regarding registration of industrial designs: for each design of each product; regarding inventions/utility models: for each independent claim; regarding geographical indications and layout designs: for each application)

550

550

550

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550

3

Charges for search of IP-related information

Charge for search of information to serve the appraisal and handling of complaints and other activities within their responsibility (regarding mark registration: for each group of up to 6 products/services; regarding registration of industrial designs: for each design of each product; regarding inventions: for each independent claim in the patent application; regarding geographical indications: for each application); search for integrated marks serving the appraisal of an application for registration of IPR assignment contract (for each protection title)

600

480

180

180

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- In case of search for a mark covering more than 6 products/services of a group, surcharge for each excess product/service:

30

4

Charges for announcement and registration of IP-related information

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Charge for announcement of IP-related information

120

120

120

120

120

- Regarding information containing more than 1 figure, surcharge for each additional figure:

60

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60

- Regarding an invention description containing more than 6 pages, surcharge for each additional page:

10

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4.2

Charge for registration of IP-related information

120

120

120

120

120

5

Charges for use of protection titles

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Charges for use of protection titles: regarding inventions/utility models: for each independent claim in the protection application for each year; regarding marks: for each group of products/services for each 10 years; regarding industrial designs: for each design of each product for 5 years

700

700

- Charge for use of patent for invention/utility model for the 1^st and 2^nd year

300

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- Charge for use of patent for invention/utility model for the 3^rd and 4^th year

500

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- Charge for use of patent for invention/utility model for the 5^th and 6^th year

800

- Charge for use of patent for invention/utility model for the 7^th and 8^th year

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- Charge for use of patent for invention/utility model for the 9^th and 10^th year

1800

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- Charge for use of patent for invention/utility model for the 11^th to 13^th year

2500

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3300

- Charge for use of patent for invention/utility model for the 17^th to 20^th year

4200

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6

Charges for appraisal of applications for international registration of IP

6.1

Charge for preliminary examination of the form of an international invention application which will be submitted to the International Bureau and the International Searching Authority

300

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6.2[6]

Charge for international registration of marks, industrial designs (for each industrial design) originating in Vietnam – excluding charges payable to the International Bureau

 2000

2000

6.3

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1000

6.4

Charge for international registration of mark under the Madrid Protocol in which Vietnam is designated

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- Charge for appraisal of application for each group of goods or services

3600

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- Charge for appraisal of application for renewal for each group of goods or services

3200

[1] This document is consolidated from 02 Circulars below:

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-  The Circular No. 31/2020/TT-BTC dated May 04, 2020 of the Minister of Finance providing amendments to the Circular No. 263/2016/TT-BTC dated November 14, 2016 of the Minister of Finance prescribing fees and charges relating to industrial property rights, collection, transfer, management and use thereof, and coming into force from July 01, 2020 (hereinafter referred to as “Circular No. 31/2020/TT-BTC”).

This consolidated document does not replace 02 Circulars mentioned above.

[2] The Circular No. 31/2020/TT-BTC has been promulgated pursuant to:

“The Law on fees and charges dated November 25, 2015;

The Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs;

The Government's Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP dated August 23, 2016 detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on fees and charges;

The Government’s Decree No. 87/2017/ND-CP dated July 26, 2017 defining functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

And at the request of the Director of the Tax Policy Department;”

[3] This Clause is amended according to Clause 1 Article 1 of the Circular No. 31/2020/TT-BTC, coming into force from July 01, 2020

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[5] Article 2 of the Circular No. 31/2020/TT-BTC stipulates:  

“Article 2. Implementation

1. This Circular comes into force from July 01, 2020.

2. Difficulties that arise during the implementation of this Circular should be promptly reported to the Ministry of Finance for consideration./.”

[6] This Point is amended according to Clause 3 Article 1 of the Circular No. 31/2020/TT-BTC, coming into force from July 01, 2020.