Tunisia: Trademark Registration Costs and Recent Changes to Official Trademark Fees

---

Published on 23 October 2020

Despite its location in Africa, Tunisia is neither a member of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization ("ARIPO") nor its sister organization, the Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle ("OAPI").

Trademark Legislation in Tunisia

Trademark filing and registration in Tunisia are governed by the Law No. 2001-36 of April 17, 2001, on the Protection of Trademarks and Service Marks, as amended by the Orders/Decrees of the Government of Tunisia.

The National Institute for Standardization and Industrial Property ("INNORPI"), headquartered in the capital city of Tunis, is the statutory body that oversees the administration of the Law and the Orders/Decrees.

Trademark System in Tunisia

Trademark protection in Tunisia can be obtained only through the national trademark route. A national trademark application may be filed directly in Tunisia or through the relevant international arrangements: the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property or the Madrid Protocol, both of which are international treaties administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization ("WIPO"). Further, Tunisia is also a party to the Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services.

The Madrid Protocol and the International Trademark System

The Madrid Protocol facilitates the international filing and registration of trademarks in a cost-effective and streamlined manner in over 100 countries, with Malaysia being the latest to join the bandwagon on September 27, 2019.

A trademark registered under the Madrid Protocol is valid for ten years from the date on which the mark is recorded in the International Register and can be renewed for successive ten-year periods.

Trademark Filings in Tunisia

In the year 2018, Tunisia was designated as a member state in more than 2,200 international trademark applications under the Madrid Protocol. This figure is based on the World Intellectual Property Indicators 2019 published by the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Trademark Protection Costs in Tunisia

Let us now discuss the costs involved in filing a trademark application in Tunisia and, subsequently, getting it registered. Typically, there are two categories of costs involved: official fees and attorney charges.

The costs are generally dependent on the number of classes of goods and services under which the trademark application is filed. The current version of the 'International Classification of Goods and Services' (Nice Agreement Eleventh Edition – Version 2020) contains 34 classes for goods and 11 classes for services.

A trademark registration is valid for 10 years from the application filing date and is renewable for successive ten-year periods. It is legally permissible to file multi-class trademark applications.

Let us consider a trademark application with a single priority claim that is to be filed under four classes in Tunisia. For instance, the applicant could be a beverages company wishing to register under Class 29 (Milk), Class 30 (Coffee and Tea), Class 31 (Beverages for Animals), and Class 32 (Non-Alcoholic Beverages and Fruit Beverages).

The estimated costs of protecting a trademark under four classes in Tunisia, from filing through registration, add up to approximately US $876 (Table 1). The costs are based on the assumption that the applications get registered without any objections from the National Institute for Standardization and Industrial Property, with no oppositions being filed after publication. Further, the costs are inclusive of Value Added Tax, which has been added to the attorney charges. As shown in Table 1, the costs are spread across the two different stages of the trademark process: Filing and Registration.

Trademark Filing Fees and Trademark Registration Fees

The official trademark fee for filing a trademark application in a single class in Tunisia is TND 400 (approximately US $137.5). The official fee for filing a trademark application in a second class and each subsequent class beyond the second class is TND 100 (approximately US $34).

Further, the trademark filing costs are also inclusive of: the attorney charges for handling the filing of the applications in the additional classes beyond the first class, the official fee for claiming a priority, and the attorney charges for handling the priority claim.

The trademark registration costs are inclusive of the official fee for the issuance of a trademark certificate, which is TND 80 (approximately US $27).

Trademark Renewal Fees in Tunisia

As stated above, a trademark registration in Tunisia is valid for 10 years from the trademark application filing date and is renewable for successive ten-year periods. The official fee for renewing a trademark registration in a single class is TND 500 (approximately US $171). The official fee for renewing a trademark registration in a second class and each subsequent class beyond the second class is TND 150 per class (approximately US $51). The official fee for obtaining the registration certificate of the renewed trademark is TND 80 (approximately US $27).

Recent Changes to Official Trademark Fees

On January 27, 2020, the National Institute for Standardization and Industrial Property's revised Official Fee Schedule entered into force. The revisions are based on Decree No. 29/2020, issued on January 23, 2020. The fees for trademark protection have been increased by 100% or more for all actions related to trademark registration and renewal.

As per the earlier Fee Schedule, the official fee for filing a trademark application in a single class was TND 200 (approximately US $69), while that for filing in a second class and each subsequent class beyond the second class was TND 30 (approximately US $10).

However, as per the increased Fee Schedule (Figure 1), the official fee for filing a trademark application in a single class has doubled to TND 400 (approximately US $137.5), while that for filing in a second class and each subsequent class beyond the second class has increased to TND 100 (approximately US $34). Likewise, the official fee for the issuance of a trademark registration certificate has also got increased from TND 36 (approximately US $12) to TND 80 (approximately US $27).

Along similar lines, the official trademark renewal fee, which was TND 260 (approximately US $89) for a single class, has been increased to TND 500 (approximately US $171).


Companies across the world are quickly recognizing the need for implementing a well thought out and judicious international trademark filing strategy. In such a scenario, it is imperative that due deliberation be given for the inclusion of vibrant economies with high potential for growth in the formulation of a global trademark filing strategy. Estimating costs at a granular level can facilitate IP strategy decisions and budget forecasting, in addition to minimizing the variance between the budgeted spend and the actual spend.

Venkatesh Viswanath (Senior Content Strategist, Quantify IP) and Bandita Panda (IP Specialist, Quantify IP) contributed to this article.
Exchange Rates Used: 1 U.S. Dollar = 2.92 Tunisian Dinar
Note: The estimates and fees depicted in this article are based on the Official Fee Schedule as of April 7, 2020