The European Parliament aims to simplify the legal landscape for intellectual property stakeholders by consolidating and codifying the regulation on European Union designs. This move brings clarity primarily to designers, legal practitioners, national authorities, and businesses holding design rights, who are likely to engage with this updated legal text and react to its streamlined form. National parliaments and the European Commission are also stakeholders in this procedural refinement.
This update emerges from a draft report published on 13 January 2026 by the European Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI). It represents Parliament’s first-reading position on the European Commission’s proposal to codify Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 concerning European Union designs.
The document is a legislative motion seeking to codify existing legislation without substantive amendments. It adopts the Commission's proposal, which consolidates and codifies prior regulations into a single, accessible legal text. The report specifies that this codification does not introduce new rules or alter current rights and obligations but includes a minor textual adjustment reinstating the term ‘would’ in certain recitals.
Policy-wise, this codification reinforces legal certainty and eases referencing by consolidating fragmented texts into a coherent regulation. It reflects a preference for maintaining existing regulatory regimes over introducing new policy shifts, thereby balancing institutional streamlining with stability in intellectual property rules governing design rights within the EU.
Stakeholders will experience varied impacts: national design offices and practitioners benefit from simplified legal citation and reduced risk of divergent interpretations, enhancing administrative efficiency. Conversely, the lack of substantive changes might disappoint those seeking rapid reform or modernization of design protection rules. Businesses reliant on design rights gain procedural clarity but no immediate expansion or contraction of their rights. Finally, the European Parliament, Council, and Commission are positioned to proceed efficiently through the accelerated codification process, optimizing institutional workflow.
This draft report marks the continuation of a codification process initiated by the Commission and is expected to be transmitted promptly to the Council, Commission, and national parliaments. It signals a coordinated effort among EU institutions to streamline legal frameworks, with the Council set to respond next as part of the ordinary legislative procedure.