At a glance
- The EAEU regional one-application trademark system was still not accepting filings as of August 2026, even though the treaty behind it has been in force since 26 April 2021.
- Armenia’s HO-427-N, in force from 1 January 2026, added internet-based notification mechanisms to the Law on Trademarks. It did not open EAEU filing.
- Two routes protect a mark in Armenia today: a national application at the Intellectual Property Office (AIPO), or a Madrid System designation.
- New from 30 August 2026: HO-388-N requires paid municipal permission to use the name or symbol of an Armenian community, settlement, or Yerevan district in a trademark, in goods and services, or in a company name.
- That municipal duty runs AMD 100,000–300,000 (roughly USD 253–760) per calendar year, with a statutory ceiling of up to three times higher in urban settlements and up to seven times higher in Yerevan if the local council decides to apply it.
If you file trademarks for clients moving into the Eurasian Economic Union, you have probably seen it written that Armenia opened the door to a single regional application on 1 January 2026. It did not. As of August 2026 the EAEU one-application system is still not taking applications, and the two ways into Armenia are the same two that have always worked. Separately, an amendment to Armenia’s local duties law takes effect on 30 August 2026 and can attach a recurring municipal fee to any mark — or company name — built around an Armenian place name.
This article sets out what is actually available, what the new fee covers, and what to change in your filing plan before the end of August.
Where the “EAEU trademark system is live” claim comes from
The confusion is understandable, because the legal scaffolding really does exist. The EAEU Treaty on Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin entered into force on 26 April 2021. It provides for a unitary regional right obtained through one application covering Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. Commentary written from the treaty text alone reads as though the system is available.
The treaty’s own commencement mechanism is the reason it is not. Regional applications begin only once the Eurasian Economic Commission has received the final member-state notification confirming readiness. No such launch has been publicly confirmed, and the Commission’s report on monitoring business issues in 2025 still described the regional one-application system as being prepared for technological launch rather than as operating. Eurasian Economic Commission decisions issued in July 2026 in this area are technical classification instruments, not a launch announcement.
Armenia’s own amendment is the second source of the misunderstanding. HO-427-N took effect on 1 January 2026 and amended the Law on Trademarks (HO-59-N). What it introduced were internet-based public and individual notification mechanisms — procedural modernisation of how the office communicates with applicants. It did not commence EAEU filing in Armenia, and it did not create a new registration route. The date has simply been read as a launch date because it is a January date attached to a trademark-law amendment.
The unified EAEU customs register of intellectual property, often mentioned alongside the regional mark as a single enforcement lookup for rights holders, sits in the same position: provided for, not yet operating. Recordal for customs enforcement in Armenia remains a national exercise.
A note on how current this is. Our conclusion rests on sources checked in August 2026, and a launch can be announced at any time. What we can say with confidence is that 1 January 2026 was not a launch date. Before you rely on the regional route for a live matter, confirm the present position directly with AIPO or the Eurasian Economic Commission.
How to actually protect a trademark in Armenia today
Two routes are open, and both end in the same national right examined by the same office under Armenian law.
1. National filing at AIPO
A direct application to the Intellectual Property Office runs through a fixed sequence: filing, then preliminary examination within 10 working days, then publication in the Industrial Property bulletin, then a two-month window in which third parties may oppose or file observations, then substantive examination within three months of publication, then the registration decision, payment of the state duty, entry in the State Register and issuance of the certificate. For an uncontested application, expect roughly six to nine months end to end. Our trademark registration timeline guide walks through each stage in more detail.
The official fee schedule for a single class is as follows.
| Stage | Official fee |
|---|---|
| Filing | AMD 30,000 (approx. USD 76) |
| Examination | AMD 40,000 (approx. USD 101), plus AMD 15,000 (approx. USD 38) per additional class |
| Registration | AMD 50,000 (approx. USD 127) |
| Total, one class | AMD 120,000 (approx. USD 304) |
| Renewal, every 10 years | AMD 30,000 (approx. USD 76), plus AMD 10,000 (approx. USD 25) per additional class |
Smaller applicants pay considerably less. A company with 25 employees or fewer receives a 75 percent discount, bringing the single-class total to about AMD 30,000 (approx. USD 76); a company with 26 to 100 employees receives 50 percent, or about AMD 60,000 (approx. USD 152). These are government fees only and do not include professional or representation costs.
Once granted, protection runs 10 years from the filing date and is renewable indefinitely in 10-year terms. A registration becomes vulnerable to cancellation after three consecutive years of non-use, which matters if you are filing defensively across classes you do not intend to work.
2. Madrid System designation
Armenia is a party to both the Madrid Agreement and the Madrid Protocol, so a rights holder with a home application or registration can designate Armenia within an international application and add it to a wider filing programme without instructing locally at the outset. This is usually the efficient choice when Armenia is one of several markets being covered in the same exercise.
What a Madrid designation does not do is bypass Armenian substantive law. AIPO still examines the designation, third parties can still oppose it, and a provisional refusal still has to be answered locally and within Armenian deadlines. Plan for a local representative to be available even if the filing itself is centralised. A clearance search before either route is worth the cost in a register this size — see our trademark search and clearance guide.
The new place-name permission fee under HO-388-N
This is the part almost nobody outside Armenia is tracking, and it is the one most likely to produce a surprise invoice. HO-388-N was adopted by the National Assembly on 3 July 2026, signed on 28 July, published on 29 July and takes effect on 30 August 2026. It amends the Law on Local Duties and Fees.
The duty applies where a business uses the name or symbol of an Armenian community, of a settlement within a community, or of an administrative district of Yerevan in any of three ways: as a registered trademark, in producing goods or supplying works and services, or in a company name. That third limb is what pulls the rule outside the IP department. A company called after the district it operates in is within scope whether or not it ever files a trademark.
The amendment revises a duty that already existed rather than inventing one. The old figure was a fixed AMD 100,000. The new statutory annual range is AMD 100,000 to AMD 300,000 (roughly USD 253 to USD 760) per calendar year, and Article 12(3) allows community councils to set rates up to three times higher in urban settlements and up to seven times higher in Yerevan — theoretical ceilings of AMD 900,000 (approx. USD 2,280) and AMD 2,100,000 (approx. USD 5,320) respectively.
Read those multipliers carefully, because they are a ceiling and not a rate. The enhanced figures apply only where a community council has actually adopted a decision setting them, and we located no post-enactment council decision applying the new multipliers as of August 2026. Yerevan’s current rate of AMD 300,000 (approx. USD 760) was set before this law and reflects the earlier structure. The amount a given business will actually pay depends on the decision in force in its own community, and that is what should be checked rather than assumed.
Do not merge this with your AIPO budget. This is a municipal permission and an annual local duty. It is payable to the community, not to the Intellectual Property Office; paying the trademark filing and registration fees does not discharge it; and unlike the registration fees it recurs every calendar year for as long as the place name is in use.
What foreign IP agencies and brand owners should do now
- Take the regional filing out of your client advice. If a quote, matter plan or comparison table offers an EAEU application as a live option for Armenia, it is describing something that cannot currently be filed. Replace it with a national or Madrid route.
- Decide between the two available routes on portfolio grounds. Armenia alone, or Armenia with unusual specification issues, generally points to a direct national filing. Armenia as one of several designations in a wider programme points to Madrid.
- Screen shortlisted marks for place-name elements before filing. Community, settlement and Yerevan district names are the trigger. This is quick to check at the shortlist stage and expensive to discover after the brand is in market.
- Apply the same screen to company names. The duty reaches company names independently of any trademark, so it belongs in the entity-naming step of a company registration, not only in the IP workstream.
- Budget the duty as recurring, and confirm the local rate. Check the decision in force in the relevant community rather than working from the statutory ceiling.
- Re-check the EAEU position before each new advice cycle. The system is built and waiting; when it does open, the analysis above changes.
Frequently asked questions
Is the EAEU trademark system active in Armenia?
Can I file one trademark application covering all five EAEU states?
Did Armenia’s HO-427-N amendment open EAEU filing on 1 January 2026?
What is HO-388-N, and does it apply to my company name?
How much is the place-name duty, and is it a one-off?
How much does trademark registration cost in Armenia?
Is a Madrid System designation faster than a national Armenian filing?
How long does a national trademark registration take in Armenia?
The bottom line
Two things should change in your Armenian trademark planning this month. Stop treating the EAEU regional application as an available route — it is not filing yet, and 1 January 2026 was never its launch date. And add a place-name screen to both trademark selection and company naming before 30 August 2026, because the municipal duty is annual, is payable to the community rather than to AIPO, and reaches company names whether or not a mark is ever registered.
If you are choosing between a national filing and a Madrid designation, or you are not sure whether a shortlisted name brings you within the new duty, tell us about the mark and we will tell you where it stands.
Last updated: August 10, 2026
