A unified regional system for trademark and industrial design protection across Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg through one filing and one office.
The Benelux system provides a separate regional framework for protecting intellectual property rights across Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
It allows applicants to obtain protection for trademarks and industrial designs in all three countries through a single filing route administered by one office.
The system is governed by the Benelux Convention on Intellectual Property.
One application is sufficient to obtain protection in all three Benelux countries at once.
A single official fee applies without the need for separate national filings or local patent attorneys in each country.
The system is designed to provide relatively short timing for obtaining regional protection.
Rights are managed through one office — the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP).
No basic application or prior registration is required in order to use the Benelux route.
The application is filed with BOIP, formally checked and assigned a filing date.
Formal examination follows, including review of the list of goods and services and their classification. The application is then published.
Important: A two-month period is available for filing opposition, counted from the date of publication of the application.
The mark is then examined on the merits, limited to registrability and absolute grounds for refusal.
If there are no grounds for refusal and no successful third-party objections, the registration is entered in the Register.
A Benelux trademark is protected for 10 years from the filing date.
The registration may be renewed for additional 10-year periods an unlimited number of times.
The application is filed with BOIP, formally checked and assigned a filing date.
If the formal requirements are met, the registration is entered in the Register.
Important: No substantive examination is carried out. The office does not assess novelty or originality during the registration procedure.
Important: The applicant may request deferred publication for up to 12 months from the filing date or priority date.
A Benelux industrial design is protected for 5 years from the filing date.
The registration may be renewed once for an additional 5-year period.
Important: If the renewal deadline is missed, restoration is possible within 6 months upon payment of an additional fee of EUR 12.
Compare Benelux regional protection with wider EU trademark and design routes.
Searches, filing, prosecution, renewals and portfolio support for trademark protection.
We can help assess whether Benelux, EUIPO or national filing is the better route for your case.