On December 18, 2006,the European Union Council accepted the accession of the European Community to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement relating to International design registrations and established the Regulation for making this accession effective.
This acceptance is a first step in the process to link Community designs (in existence since April 1, 2003, and now covering 27 territories) to international design registrations (dated July 2, 1999 and accepted by 19 countries).
The link should be effective in early 2008. The next step is the preparation of the Amendment to the Implementing Regulation by the European Union. That new link will enjoy the already experienced and enforced link between European and International Trademarks which has proven to be a success, considering the large protection obtained through a single international registration filed with the WIPO and eliminating the need to file several registrations with different offices.