SECTION 4

Subject to the provisions of paragraph 2, no person shall be compelled to be represented before the Office. Without prejudice to paragraph 3, second sentence, natural or legal persons not having either their domicile or their principal place of business or a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment in the Community must be represented before the Office in accordance with Article 93(1) in all proceedings established by this Regulation, other than in filing an application for a Community trade mark; the Implementing Regulation may permit other exceptions. Natural or legal persons having their domicile or principal place of business or a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment in the Community may be represented before the Office by an employee. An employee of a legal person to which this paragraph applies may also represent other legal persons which have economic connections with the first legal person, even if those other legal persons have neither their domicile nor their principal place of business nor a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment within the Community. The Implementing Regulation shall specify whether and under what conditions an employee must file with the Office a signed authorisation for insertion on the file. Representation of natural or legal persons before the Office may only be undertaken by: any legal practitioner qualified in one of the Member States and having his place of business within the Community, to the extent that he is entitled, within the said State, to act as a representative in trade mark matters; professional representatives whose names appear on the list maintained for this purpose by the Office. The Implementing Regulation shall specify whether and under what conditions the representatives before the Office must file with the Office a signed authorisation for insertion on the file. Representatives acting before the Office must file with it a signed authorisation for insertion on the files, the details of which are set out in the Implementing Regulation. Any natural person who fulfils the following conditions may be entered on the list of professional representatives: he must be a national of one of the Member States; he must have his place of business or employment in the Community; he must be entitled to represent natural or legal persons in trade mark matters before the central industrial property office of a Member State. Where, in that State, the entitlement is not conditional upon the requirement of special professional qualifications, persons applying to be entered on the list who act in trade mark matters before the central industrial property office of the said State must have habitually so acted for at least five years. However, persons whose professional qualification to represent natural or legal persons in trade mark matters before the central industrial property office of one of the Member States is officially recognised in accordance with the regulations laid down by such State shall not be subject to the condition of having exercised the profession. Entry shall be effected upon request, accompanied by a certificate furnished by the central industrial property office of the Member State concerned, which must indicate that the conditions laid down in paragraph 2 are fulfilled. The President of the Office may grant exemption from: the requirement of paragraph 2(c), second sentence, if the applicant furnishes proof that he has acquired the requisite qualification in another way; the requirement of paragraph 2(a) in special circumstances. The conditions under which a person may be removed from the list of professional representatives shall be laid down in the Implementing Regulation.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-10-12 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.