22/12/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 22 December, the European Commission published a communication detailing plans to introduce regular, automatic checks on EU brandname payments levied by the EU's Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM), which controls the issuing of brandnames in the EU, fees for the use of brandnames and the right to use designs and models. A draft regulation will be published in the next few months. In the short term, OHIM fees will fall (as in 2005, see EUROPE 9050). OHIM's budget, mainly composed of fees paid by companies using its services, is in surplus every year. Its treasury reserves exceeded EUR 135 mil in 2005 and could reach EUR 375 mil by the end of 2010. This is due to the constant rise in the number of requests for protection of brandnames and models, higher OHIM efficiency and productivity and the growth of e-commerce. (mb)