NZ Designs Act to permit restoration of a Registered Design

The Regulatory Improvement Bill that, inter alia, will introduce a new procedure for restoration of a registered design through non payment of a renewal fee was introduced into the NZ Parliament in early September. This proposed legislation is now public and can be found at the following link

Regulatory Improvement Bill

Following the recent announcement of a general election for 8 November 2008, the timeframe for the enactment of this legislation is unknown. At this stage it is unlikely that the first reading will take place before the Parliament is dissolved on the 3rd of October. However given that this bill is considered non controversial and will reduce the compliance burden on business, it is likely that this Bill will pass quickly through the new Parliament early next year and come into effect in late 2009.

It is worth noting that at this stage the Bill is not retrospective in effect i.e. it will not apply to designs that have already lapsed at the time the legislation is enacted and does not seek to address the issue of restoration of lapsed registered design applications through failure to meet a prosecution deadline. The opportunity to raise these matters will come when the Bill is referred to the Select Committee for scrutiny.