The National Institute of Intellectual Property of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Kazpatent) has published an information letter explaining how the number of goods and services items in a trademark application is determined. This directly affects the amount of the examination fee.
Since January 1, 2026, new tariffs for Kazpatent services have been in force in Kazakhstan, Kazpatent operating under the Committee for Intellectual Property Rights of the Ministry of Justice. The tariffs provide for a comprehensive service covering the filing of an application and both preliminary and full examination. The base fee covers up to ten items of goods and services in each class of the International Classification of Goods and Services (Nice Classification) claimed. An additional fee is charged for each independent item above this number.
When counting items, Kazpatent relies on the current edition of the Alphabetical List of the Nice Classification. If a wording appears in it as an independent entry with an individual six-digit basic number, it is treated as one item. For example, “compilation and provision of statistical data” is counted as one item of services. At the same time, “clothing, footwear, headwear” is treated as three items, since each of them has its own basic number, while “preserved, frozen, dried and cooked fruits and vegetables” counts as eight.
If a wording does not have its own basic number, the number of items is determined by its meaning. Each good or service with an independent meaning is counted separately, regardless of whether they are joined by commas, the conjunctions “and” or “or”, or in any other way. Thus, “smart watches and fitness bracelets” or “electric scooters and hoverboards” are treated as two items. However, where individual words merely describe the purpose, properties, composition or material of a single product, the wording is counted as one item, for example “dairy products with added fruit fillings”.
Expressions such as “namely”, “for”, “in the field of” and “including” do not in themselves affect the count. What matters is the content of the rest of the wording: “dairy products, namely cottage cheese, sour cream, cheese” are three items, whereas “dairy products, namely cottage cheese” is one. Kazpatent separately noted that a Nice class heading is not treated as a single independent item, since it only indicates in general terms the field of goods and services of the relevant class.
The Institute reminds applicants that the list must be stated clearly and precisely, and where it does not meet the requirements, the examining organization may request clarification from the applicant. Applicants are advised to include only goods and services corresponding to their actual or planned activities, to use unambiguous wording, not to combine several independent items in a single entry, and to separate them with semicolons.
In practice, this means that broad lists drafted with commas and conjunctions may significantly increase the cost of examination. Applicants should optimize their lists of goods and services in line with the new rules already at the stage of preparing the application.