Article 98 - Language of proceedings

1. The application for a registered EU design shall be filed in one of the official languages of the EU.

2. The applicant must indicate a second language which shall be a language of the Office the use of which he accepts as a possible language of proceedings before the Office.If the application was filed in a language which is not one of the languages of the Office, the Office shall arrange to have the application translated into the language indicated by the applicant.

3. Where the applicant for a registered EU design is the sole party to proceedings before the Office, the language of proceedings shall be the language used for filing the application. If the application was made in a language other then the languages of the Office, the Office may send written communications to the applicant in the second language indicated by the applicant in his application.

4. In the case of invalidity proceedings, the language of proceedings shall be the language used for filing the application for a registered EU design if this is one of the languages of the Office. If the application was made in a language other than the languages of the Office, the language of proceedings shall be the second language indicated in the application.The application for a declaration of invalidity shall be filed in the language of proceedings.Where the language of proceedings is not the language used for filing the application for a registered Community design, the right holder of the EU-design may file observations in the language of filing. The Office shall arrange to have those observations translated into the language of proceedings. The implementing regulation may provide that the translation expenses to be borne by the Office may not, subject to a derogation granted by the Office where justified by the complexity of the case, exceed an amount to be fixed for each category of proceedings on the basis of the average size of statements of case received by the Office. Expenditure in excess of this amount may be allocated to the losing party in accordance with Article 70.

4a. Without prejudice to paragraph 4: 

(a) any application or declaration relating to an application for a registered EU design may be filed in the language used for filing the application for a registered EU design or in the second language indicated by the applicant in that application; 

(b) any application or declaration relating to an application for a registered EU design other than an application for a declaration of invalidity pursuant to Article 52 or a declaration of surrender pursuant to Article 51 may be filed in one of the languages of the Office. However, when any of the forms provided by the Office as referred to in Article 66d is used, such forms may be used in any of the official languages of the Union, provided that the form is completed in one of the languages of the Office, as far as textual elements are concerned.

5. Parties to invalidity proceedings may agree that a different official language of the EU is to be the language of the proceedings.

6. Without prejudice to paragraphs 3 and 5 and unless provided for otherwise, in written proceedings before the Office a party may use any language of the Office. If the language chosen is not the language of the proceedings, the party shall supply a translation into that language within one month of the date of the submission of the original document. Where the applicant for a registered EU design is the sole party to proceedings before the Office and the language used for the filing of the application for the registered EU design is not one of the languages of the Office, the translation may also be filed in the second language indicated by the applicant in the application. 

7. The Executive Director shall determine the manner in which translations are to be certified.