4. Administrative agreements under Article 10(2)(a) EPC

According to Art. 10(1) EPC the European Patent Office is managed by the President, who is responsible for its activities to the Administrative Council. To this end, Art. 10(2)(a) EPC empowers and requires the President to "take all necessary steps to ensure the functioning of the European Patent Office".

On 29 June 1981 the Presidents of the German Patent Office (GPO) and the EPO entered into an Administrative Agreement concerning the filing of documents and payments (OJ 1981, 381). In G 5/88, G 7/88 and G 8/88 (OJ 1991, 137) the Enlarged Board of Appeal considered the validity of this Administrative Agreement, which ceased to apply as of 1 September 2005 (OJ 2005, 444). In this respect, for further details, see "Case Law of the Boards of Appeal", 9th ed. 2019.