Issuer: The Government
Published in: "Monitorul Oficial" no.395 of August 23, 2000 (The Official
Gazette of Romania)
According to the provisions of Article 107 par.(1) and (3) of the Constitution
of Romania and of Article 1 lett.O item 1. of the Law no.125/2000 on the competence
of the Government to issue ordinances,
The Government of Romania adopts this ordinance.
CHAPTER I
Common provisions
CHAPTER II Acquiring the status of
an industrial property attorney
CHAPTER III Entering the National Register
of Industrial Property Attorneys
CHAPTER IV Rights and duties of industrial
property attorneys
CHAPTER V Exercise of the profession
of industrial property attorney
CHAPTER VI Representation
CHAPTER VII Suspension and cessation of the
exercise of the profession of industrial property attorney
CHAPTER VIII Disciplinary responsability
CHAPTER IX Organization and functioning
of the Chamber
CHAPTER X Transitory and final provisions
ART.1
(1) The profession of industrial property attorney is free and independent,
with autonomous organization and practice, under the provisions of this ordinance.
(2) The activity of an industrial property attorney consists in rendering specialized assistance in the field of industrial property and representing the Romanian or foreign natural persons and legal entities in the procedures before the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks and before third parties.
ART.2
The industrial property attorney is a natural person authorized under the provisions
of this ordinance and entered in the National Register of Industrial Property
Attorneys.
ART.3.
For the purpose of having the interests of the industrial property attorneys
represented and protected at national and international level, the National
Chamber of Industrial Property Attorneys of Romania, hereinafter called Chamber,
shall be set up.
ART.4
The profession of industrial property attorney shall be exercised only by a
natural person who has been entered in the National Register of Industrial Property
Attorneys and who is a member of the Chamber.
CHAPTER
II
Acquiring the status of an industrial property attorney
ART.5
The status of industrial property attorney may be acquired by the person who
can prove that he fulfils the following conditions cumulatively, namely he:
a) is a Romanian citizen
b) has residence in Romania
c) has full capacity of exercise
d) possesses university level technical, scientific or legal qualification;
e) has been practising for at least 3 years in his basic professional field and at least 2 years in industrial property;
f) was not sentenced irrevocably for a crime punished by the Criminal Law that made him unworthy of being an industrial property attorney;
g) passed the examination taken with the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks under the terms specified in this ordinance;
h) proves, by a certificate or diploma, that he speaks a language of international use.
ART.6
The specialists in industrial property who were employees of the State Office
for Inventions and Trademarks for at least 5 years as well as the teaching staff
that can prove having taught industrial property in authorized law faculties
for at least 5 years before acquiring the status of industrial property attorney
need not fulfil the condition provided in Art.5(g) for that field of industrial
property in which they carried out their activity.
Art.7
(1) The qualifying examination for industrial property attorneys deals with
the following industrial property objects:
a) patents for invention;
b) marks and geographical indications;
c) industrial designs;
d) topographies of integrated circuits.
(2) The conditions of professional
training of the person admitted at the qualifying examination for those industrial
property objects specified at item (1) shall be stipulated in the guidelines
approved by the Director General of the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks.
CHAPTER
III
Entering the National Register of Industrial Property Attorneys
ART.8
The State Office for Inventions and Trademarks is the depositary of the National
Register of Industrial Property Attorneys.
ART.9
(1) For the acquisition of the status of industrial property attorney, the State
Office for Inventions and Trademarks shall organize the qualifying examination
to be held before a board with a composition established by an order of the
Director General of the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks.
(2) The board shall have 3-7 members for each industrial property object for which the examination is held.
(3) The board shall consist of:
a) a chairman appointed from among the persons in the leadership of the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks having duties in the field of industrial property protection;
b) members, who are persons having technical or(and) legal qualification and experience in the field of industrial property, specialists with at least 5 years of employment with the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks in the examining activity or teaching staff that has taught industrial property law.
(4) Where the examination is organized for several industrial property objects, corresponding committees shall be established inside the board by order of the Director General of the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks.
(5) The board shall also include 3 members of the Chamber.
ART.10
The results of the examination may be appealed within 15 days from notification
thereof and re-examined by a board established to that purpose, and having the
Director General of the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks or his representative
as a chairman.
ART.11
The decisions of the board to allow or to reject an appeal, provided in Art.10,
shall be notified in writing within 30 days from lodging the appeal with the
State Office for Inventions and Trademarks.
ART.12
The authorized industrial property attorneys shall be entered in the National
Register of Industrial Property Attorneys righteously, nominally, while mentioning
the basic profession according to the graduation diploma of a higher education
institution, the field of industrial property for which they were authorized
namely, inventions, marks, industrial designs, topographies of integrated circuits
as well as further significant information on the activity of the industrial
property attorney.
ART.13
The State Office for Inventions and Trademarks shall publish in the Official
Industrial Property Bulletin the lists of the industrial property attorneys
entered in the National Register of Industrial Property Attorneys according
to the data furnished by the Chamber.
CHAPTER
IV
Rights and duties of industrial property attorneys
ART.14
The free-lance industrial property attorney entered in the National Register
of Industrial Property Attorneys and in the lists of the Chamber shall have
the right to render assistance to any Romanian or foreign national person or
legal entity and to represent it before the State Office for Inventions and
Trademarks on the basis of a power of attorney assumed in writing by both parties.
ART.15
For carrying out his professional activity, the industrial property attorney
shall be entitled to a fee and to the reimbursement of all the expenses incurred
in his client's interest.
ART.16
The industrial property attorney shall be bound not to disclose data and information
entrusted to him by his client or shall do it only within the limits of his
mandate under the conditions provided by the law.
ART.17
The industrial property attorney shall be bound to act in good faith with professional
integrity and only within the limits of his mandate.
ART.18
The industrial property attorney who is a member of the Chamber shall have the
right of free access to other forms of professional associaton compatible with
his profession.
CHAPTER
V
Exercise of the profession of industrial property attorney
ART.19
(1) The persons who carry out their activity in private offices, associated
offices or civil professional companies or trade companies having as sole object
the activities in the field of industrial property provided in Art.1(2) shall
be deemed as industrial property attorneys.
(2) The industrial property attorney may also exercise his profession as an employee specialized in industrial property protection in an institution having another object of activity than industrial property or in a trade company.
ART.20
(1) The industrial property attorneys who are employees specialized in industrial
property protection shall exercise their profession for the trade companies
or institutions where they are employed and nominated in the list of functions
within the limits of the competence assigned to that function.
(2) The industrial property attorneys specified in par.(1) may carry out activities specific of their profession for other persons as well on the basis of a contract and power of attorney, fulfilling the following conditions:
a) to have the approval of the leadership of the institution where he works;
b) to abide by the Code of Professional Conduct;
c) to prove the legal fiscal registration of his activity.
ART.21
The industrial property attorney cannot render assistance to clients or represent
them if they have opposing interests in the same case or in related cases and
cannot act against a client who asked for his counselling first in relation
to that case.
ART.22
(1) The industrial property attorney who was an employee of the Sate Office
for Inventions and Trademarks shall carry out all the activities provided in
Art.1.
(2) Where the former employee of the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks has carried out his activity in one of the following fields of industrial property: marks, industrial designs, topographies of integrated circuits, then he shall represent his clients only for those applications in the above-mentioned fields that have been filed with the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks after he has ceased his activity in the office.
(3) Where the former employee of the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks has carried out his activity in the field of patents for invention, the provisions of par.(2) shall apply similarly if the inventions claimed in those patent applications belong to the technical field that the former employee dealt with.
ART.23
The industrial property attorney who is not willing to accept a call on his
professional services or who withdraws his services within 3 working days from
decision making shall inform his client, take the necessary steps to avoid detriment
of his client, and inform the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks in
that respect.
ART.24
The exercise of the profession of industrial property attorney is incompatible
with:
a) occupations damaging dignity, morals and the independence of the profession of industrial property attorney;
b) activities generating unfair competition;
c) direct trade practice entering the field of industrial property;
d) the status of employee of
the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks.
ART.25
(1) The representation of the clients, industrial property right holders or
third parties in all the procedures before the State Office for Inventions and
Trademarks shall be based on a power of attorney having a general character
or a power of attorney for each request.
(2) In case of a power of attorney having a general character, it shall suffice to file a copy of it with the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks provided the representative indicates the power of attorney on which he bases his activity in any earlier or subsequent applications.
(3) In the procedures before the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks the industrial property attorney may represent a client only for that field of industrial property in which he was authorized.
(4) In case of representation, the withdrawal or surrender of applications or the transfer of rights shall only be possible by means of a power of attorney comprising explicit recommendations concerning those acts.
ART.26
(1) The applicant or the owner may also be represented by a barrister or legal
adviser for his appeals or requests for revocation, where appropriate.
(2) The representation of the
applicants, owners or third parties by the industrial property attorneys before
the law courts is conditioned by their status as barrister or legal adviser.
CHAPTER
VII
Suspension and cessation of the exercise of the profession of industrial
property attorney
ART.27
The right to exercise the profession of industrial property attorney shall be
suspendend:
a) for incompatibility;
b) for failure to discharge his duties to the Chamber for one year;
c) over the period of interdiction to exercise the profession of industrial property attorney as a result of the disciplinary penalty maintained in virtue of a legal court decision.
ART.28
The right to exercise the profession of industrial property attorney shall cease:
a) by written renunciation to exercise the profession filed with the Chamber;
b) by loss of the Romanian citizenship or renunciation thereof;
c) where the industrial property attorney was forbidden to exercise his profession for an indefinite period of time;
d) where the industrial property attorney was irrevocably sentenced for a crime punished by the Criminal Code which made him unworthy of being an industrial property attorney;
e) upon death.
CHAPTER
VIII
Disciplinary responsability
ART.29
The disciplinary penalties incurred by industrial property attorneys are:
a) reprimand;
b) warning;
c) interdiction to exercise the profession for 3-12 months;
d) final interdiction to exercise the profession.
ART.30
The disciplinary penalties provided in Art.29 a)-d) shall be put into operation
by a Disciplinary Board of the Chamber. The procedure of handling the intimations
as to breaches of the Code of Professional Conduct and failure to discharge
the professional duties is provided in the statute of the Chamber.
ART.31
(1) The Disciplinary Board of the Chamber shall consist of 5 members, industrial
property attorneys with at least 5 years of employment and a chairman.
(2) The President of the Chamber shall be the chairman of the Disciplinary Board.
(3) The decisions of the Disciplinary Board shall be taken by the majority of votes cast.
ART.32
(1) A complaint against the decision of the Disciplinary Board of the Chamber
imposing a penalty provided in Art.29 may be lodged with the competent law court
in 30 days from the date of the notification of the decision.
(2) The decisions of the Disciplinary Board of the Chamber that have not been appealed by complaint lodged with the law court in the period provided in par.(1) shall be communicated to the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks immediately after the end of the period.
(3) The final and irrevocable
decisions of the law courts by which penalties have been imposed to the members
of the Chamber shall be communicated to the State Office for Inventions and
Trademarks in order to be mentioned in the National Register of Industrial Property
Attorneys and published in the Official Industrial Property Bulletin.
CHAPTER
IX
Organization and functioning of the Chamber
ART.33
(1) The Chamber is a non-governmental non-profit professional organization having
legal status.
(2) The Chamber is headquartered in Bucharest.
(3) The activity of the Chamber is financed from enrolment fees, annual subscriptions of the members, funds resulting from the organization of symposia, conferences, specific editorial activities as well as from donations, sponsorship or other sources.
ART.34
The industrial property attorney shall have the right to become a member of
the Chamber, at his request.
ART.35
(1) The Chamber shall have the following duties:
a) to ensure, together with the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks, the exercise of the profession of industrial property attorney and to cooperate with it in matters of professional conduct;
b) to administer and to transmit monthly to the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks the statistics of its members mentioning the trade company or the enterprise where they work, where appropriate;
c) to defend the professional interests of its members;
d) to contribute to the dissemination of the basic knowledge in the field of industrial property;
e) to ensure the compliance by its members with the Code of Professional Conduct;
f) to cooperate with similar bodies at national and international level.
(2) The duties of the Chamber as to the representation and defence of the interests of its members cannot be discharged by any other institution or professional association without the consent of the Chamber except those governed by other legal provisions.
ART.36
(1) The governing bodies of the Chamber are:
a) the Conference;
b) the Council;
c) the President of the Chamber.
(2) The members elected in the Council and the President of the Chamber can ben re-elected for at most two successive terms of office and the duration of the term of office is 2 years.
ART.37
(1) The Conference shall consist of all the members of the Chamber and shall
have the following duties:
a) to addopt and change the Regulations of the Chamber and the Code of Professional Conduct;
b) to adopt the organization of the administrative structure of the Chamber;
c) to elect and to revoke the President of the Chamber;
d) to elect and to revoke the members of the Council of the Chamber;
e) to elect the members of the committees of the Chamber;
f) to approve the Regulations on the functioning of the Chamber;
g) to approve the income and expenditure budget as well as the balance sheet of the Chamber and to give account of the administration of the Chamber funds.
(2) The Conference shall be legally constituted on the first summons in presence of the absolute majority of the members of the Chamber and the decisions shall be adopted by the votes cast by the simple majority of the members who are present.
(3) Where on the first summons the requirement as to presence is not met, the Conference shall adopt the decisions by the simple majority of the members who are present.
ART.38
(1) The ordinary activity of the Chamber shall be managed by the Council which
consists of 5-7 members.
(2) The Council of the Chamber shall set the level of the minimal fees to be paid for the services rendered by the industrial property attorneys as well as the cuts that may be granted to certain categories of persons.
ART.39
The summons, organization and taking place of the meetings, the competence of
the leadership, the specialized committees of the Chamber set up by the Conference
as well as the rights of the Chamber shall be stipulated in the statute of the
Chamber.
ART.40
The President of the Chamber shall have the following duties:
a) to represent the Chamber in its relations with natural persons and legal entities home and abroad;
b) to conclude conventions and contracts on behalf of the Chamber;
c) to be the President of the Council;
d) to summon and preside over the meetings of the Council;
e) to administer the expenditure of the Chamber;
f) other duties set by the Conference.
CHAPTER
X
Transitory and final provisions
ART.41
The State Office for Inventions and Trademarks may lend material and financial
support to the functioning of the Chamber on the basis of protocols concluded
between the leaders of the two institutions.
ART.42
The natural persons who acquired the status of industrial property attorney
before the entry into force of this ordinance shall be righteously entered into
the National Register of Industrial Property Attorneys.
ART.43
Upon the entry into force of this ordinance items (4)-(12) in the Rule 5 - Representation
by an authorized representative - of the Government Decision no.152/1992 approving
the Implementing Regulations of the Law no.64/1991 on patents for invention,
published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part One, no.79 of April 30, 1992
as well as any contrary provisions shall be repealed.
ART.44
The Chamber shall work out the Code of Professional Conduct within 60 days from
the entry into force of this ordinance.
ART.45
This ordinance shall enter into force within 30 days from its publication in
the Official Gazette of Romania.
ART.46
Until this ordinance enters into force, the State Office for Inventions and
Trademarks shall work out guidelines for its implementation to be published
in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part One.
