3.10. Process procedures for non payment or underpayment of the appropriate fee

Date Published

10.1 The Registrar will notify the applicant of the deficiency in the fees.  Notification of the requirements to be met must be given to the applicant (reg 21.23).  If an applicant is given any verbal notification regarding filing requirements or the fees for an application for registration (other than where the applicant is in a position to immediately respond to the notification), notification of the requirements to be met must be confirmed in writing.


10.2 If the appropriate payment is made within 10 days from the notice of underpayment, the filing date given to the application will be that date on which the applicant makes good the deficiency in the fees, provided all other minimum filing requirements have been met.  The original payment is reconciled to the date of the later receipt.


10.3 If the appropriate fee is not paid within 10 days*, the application will be deemed not filed and a refund of any fees paid in relation to the application will be issued.  Should the applicant wish to proceed with the application, the applicant may re-apply when paying the appropriate fees.

*Note: The 10 days mentioned above is not a statutory requirement but should be adhered to where appropriate in order to align the practice of returning documents resulting from underpayment of fees with the practice of returning documents if minimum filing requirements are not met.

10.4 If the fee is not correct because the specification covers more classes of goods and/or services than the applicant indicated it contained, the applicant has the option of amending the specification rather than paying an additional fee.


10.5 If the application is for a series of trade marks and the fee is not correct, the applicant has the option of deleting the additional representations in the series rather than paying the fee for filing a series.


10.6 If the applicant chooses the amendment options in 10.4 and 10.5 above, the filing date will be the date on which the applicant's request for the appropriate amendment of the application is received.

Amended Reasons

Amended Reason Date Amended

Update hyperlinks
Back to top