On June 30, 2020, the Romanian Chamber of Deputies adopted the legislative proposal (Plx 306/2019) amending and supplementing Romanian Law no. 84/1998 on trademarks and geographic indications. 

The law transposes the provisions of EU Trademarks Directive 2015/2436 and, among others:

• amends the definition of signs that can represent trademarks, by eliminating the requirement of their graphic representation on the Register, replacing such with the requirement for the signs to be represented in a way that allows the authorities and the audience to identify the subject matter with clarity and precision   
• reduces certain procedural terms applied to a trademark’s registration procedure and introduces a series of new stages in the procedure, including the amendment of the date from which the opposition term is calculated and, respectively, the elimination of the possibility to contest a trademark application directly before the Appeals Committee  
• supplements the absolute and relative grounds for refusal
• eliminates the 5 – year term for filing a absolute/relative grounds invalidity claim against a registered trademark   
• introduces the option of filing cancellation and invalidity claims before a specialized committee of the Romanian Trademarks Office (applicable from January 14, 2023)
• introduces the possibility of trademark holders to file a statement (by September 30, 2020) should they wish to specify that when registering their marks for the class headings they wished to obtain protection for other goods and services that are included in the alphabetical list of a certain class but do not pertain to the literal interpretation of said class headings
• supplements the list of third party unauthorized actions which can be requested to be forbidden by a trademark holder.    

The new law can be accessed at the following link (in Romanian language): http://www.cdep.ro/pls/proiecte/upl_pck2015.proiect?cam=2&idp=17959