As provided by the 2005 IP Law as amended, certification mark, unlike ordinary marks, means a mark which is authorized by its owner to be used by another organization or individual on the latter’s goods and/or services, for the purpose of certifying the origin, raw materials, materials, mode of manufacture of goods or manner of provision of services, quality, accuracy, safety or other characteristics of goods and/or services bearing the mark.

Required Documents for certification mark

1. Regulation on the use of certification mark
2. Explanatory note on characteristics and unique quality of the product bearing the mark (where the applied-for mark is a mark for certification of the quality of a product or a mark for certification of geographical origin); and
3. A brief desription included into the request consists of the characteristics of the goods certified by the mark (the characteristics comprises origin, material, mode for producing goods, mode of supply of service, quality, accuracy rate, safety threhold or other features of the goods bearing the mark);
4. Map showing the indicated territory (if the applied-for mark is a mark for certification of the geographical origin of a product); and
5. 8 reproductions of the mark, maximum size 8x 8cm, minimum size 1.5 x 1.5cm;
6. A Power of Attorney (PoA) simply signed by a person with legal authority to bind a juristic applicant. Neither notarization nor legalization is required. A faxed or scanned copy of PoA is accepted at the filing but the original shall be filed within 01 month from the filing date at no cost.
7. List of Goods or Services pertaining to trademark under the 11^th edition of the Nice Classification.
8. A certified true copy of the basic application if a Paris Convention based priority is claimed.

Special Requirement for Regulation on the Use of certification mark

The above indicated Regulation shall contain the following main contents:

1. The organization or individual being the mark owner;
2. Conditions for using the mark;
3. Characteristics of goods or services certified by the mark;
4. Methods of evaluating characteristics of goods or services and methods of controlling the use of the mark
5. Expenses to be paid by the mark user for the certification and protection of the mark, if any

Timeline for Obtaining a Certificate of Certification Trademark Registration

It normally takes about 12-18 months counting from the filing date to receive a certificate of registration of a certification mark if everything goes smooth, in particular:

1. Formality examination: fundamentally checking classification of goods/service in 01 month from filing date before NOIP issues its decision on formality acceptance of application;
2. Application Publication: Applied-for mark upon formality acceptance  shall be published on the IP Gazette in a period of 02 months counting from the date of decision for the purpose of possible opposition by third party;
3. Substantive Examination:  absolute refusal and relative refusal based examination are simultaneously conducted by NOIP in 9 months commencing from the gazetted date.
4. Statement of Grant of Protection: official fee for grant of certificate indicated therein shall be paid by the applicant within 3 months and it normally takes 30 days to receive original certificate.

For further advice, please contact us at vinh@bross.vn or contact@bross.vn

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