On February 4, 2009, Ministry of Finance had issued a Circular on new Schedule of Government’s fees for industrial property procedures, namely Circular 22/2009/TT-BTC. This Circular will replace the former Circular 132/2004/TT-BTC dated December 30, 2004 (i.e. prior to the advent of Code of Intellectual Property 2005).

It is observed an average increase of 20% to most kinds of Government’s fees provided under the new Circular. In addition, some new kinds of fees are made available for the first time and some kinds of fees are now to be calculated on the basis of the number of subject-matters rather than the number of applications for protection title. The number of kinds of fees that remain unchanged is very limited. The only reduction is observed in filing fees for industrial property titles if the filing is conducted electronically.

The new Circular will come into effect 45 days after the date of its execution. This means the new fees will be applicable only to those applications and/or requests made as of March 21st, 2009.