Industrial Designs (Amendment Regulations 2025 No. 17)

The First Schedule to the Industrial Designs Regulations, 1972 is repealed and replaced, and the 2023 fee amendment (SI 97 of 2023) is repealed with it. Fees are in US dollars across three tiers: women, students, universities, research institutions and individuals; SMEs; and corporate bodies.

Registering one design costs US$10, US$15 or US$120. The corporate rate stands out — most other corporate entries in the schedule sit at US$40, so a company pays three times more to register a design than to do almost anything else with one.

Entering a subsequent proprietorship is US$10, US$15 or US$40. The schedule bands that item by how long after acquisition the application is made — within six months, after six but within twelve, or more than twelve — but prices all three bands identically, and charges the same again for each additional design acquired. As published, the timing bands make no difference to the fee.

The heavier items are contested ones. A compulsory licence under section 17 is US$25, US$40 or US$400. Entering an order of the High Court or Tribunal, appealing to the Tribunal, referring a dispute to it, and filing a counter-statement are each US$30, US$50 or US$200. Most register housekeeping — corrections, cancellations, changes of name or address for service, requests for information, copies of certificates — is US$10, US$15 or US$40. Copies per page and computer searches per half hour are US$1 at every tier; a lodging box is US$120 a year.

Claiming a research institution, academic institution, student or SME rate requires the declaration of entity form gazetted with the instrument. An SME is defined by employees and assets: micro 1–5 and up to US$30 000, small 6–30 and US$30 001–500 000, medium 31–75 and US$500 001–1 000 000. Local applicants may pay in Zimbabwean dollars at the prevailing bank rate; foreign applicants pay in US dollars. No commencement date is stated; the instrument was gazetted on 18 April 2025.