On 17 July 2015, the Belgian Council of Ministers has approved the draft of a royal decree that will reform the system of patent fees for inventions and supplementary protection certificates.
The purpose of this decree is to simplify the tax system and to align it with the new provisions contained in the Code of Economic Law.
According to the Council of Minister’s press release, the main objectives of the reform are:
the increase the attractiveness of the Belgian patent system by eliminating a few less profitable taxes,
the improvement of the quality of information that is made available to the public,
and the provision of adequate funding following the entry into force of the Agreement on the Unified Patent Court (UPC) and the creation a local division in Belgium, with a limited 10% increase of the patent maintenance fees.
The draft has now been sent to the Council of State for its opinion.
