ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL
Reports on meetings of the Administrative Council
Report on the 114th meeting of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation (17 to 20 June 2008)
The Administrative Council held its 114th meeting in Munich from 17 to 20 June 2008, with Roland Grossenbacher (CH) presiding.
The Council noted its chairman's activities report and the EPO's 2007 Annual Report. It then heard the activities report (for the first half of 2008) given by the President, Alison Brimelow.
Next, the Council was updated on progress with the Strategic Renewal exercise initiated by the President. This prompted a wide-ranging exchange of views on the strategic approaches best suited to enabling the Organisation and Office to meet the challenges facing the patent system at both European and global level, namely:
- mastering the workload (follow-up to the 2007 study by the Council's Board)
- quality, with a report from Karel Čada (CZ), chairman of the Working Group on Quality
- governance of the EPO.
This led in turn to a vigorous debate about the highly controversial issue of "mutual recognition".
Under appointments/elections, the Council congratulated Athanassios Kaissis (GR) and Lex Kaufhold (LU) on their recent election as chairman and deputy chairman respectively of the Supervisory Board of the Academy of the European Patent Organisation.
It also noted that the term of office of Lars Björklund (SE) as chairman of the Working Party on Technical Information would end on 25 October 2008, and that at its next meeting (21 to 23 October 2008) it would therefore have to elect a successor. Similarly, it was invited to think about filling the post of Michel Camoin (FR), whose term of office as one of the three members of the Board of Auditors would end on 31 December 2008.
The Council then approved several DG 3 appointments, namely:
Michel NOËL (FR) as chairman of a technical board of appeal and technically qualified member of the Enlarged Board with effect from 1 January 2009
Gudrun SEUFERT (DE) as technically qualified member of the boards with effect from 1 October 2008
Ernst BENDL (AT) as technically qualified member of the boards with effect from 1 October 2008
Gérard WEISS (FR) as legally qualified member of the Disciplinary Board of Appeal with effect from 1 July 2008
Ingo BECKEDORF (DE) as legally qualified member of the Disciplinary Board of Appeal with effect from 1 July 2008 and
Uwe SCHAREN (DE), reappointed as legally qualified external member of the Enlarged Board for three years with effect from 1 October 2008.
The Office also briefed the Council on the (re-)appointment procedure for board members.
The Council noted that the procedures for filling the vice-presidencies DG 4 and DG 5 were under way. It was informed that Brian McGinley (IE), principal director in charge of the EPO Language Service, would act as interim Vice-President DG 4 after the departure of Curt Edfjäll (SE) on 30 June 2008, pending the arrival of a successor, and that Manuel Desantes (ES), the serving Vice-President DG 5, would leave on 31 December 2008. This was Mr Edfjäll's last meeting before retiring, so the Council paid tribute to him and thanked him for his services to the European Patent Organisation during his long career at the Office.
Under international affairs, the Council decided to invite the Republic of Serbia to accede to the European Patent Convention, adding that following Serbia's accession the territorial application of European patents designating Serbia would be the same as under the country's existing co-operation and extension agreement with the European Patent Organisation, and that accession was without prejudice to the possible future accession of the Republic of Kosovo.
The Council also decided to invite the Republic of Albania to accede to the European Patent Convention.
The Council noted the Office's update on developments and projects in trilateral co-operation, and agreed to the proposed action plan for co-operation between the "Big Five" offices (EPO, USPTO, JPO, KIPO and SIPO). It also welcomed the reaffirmation that priority would be given to developing the use of the PCT.
The Council noted a progress report on the EU/China IPR 2 project, which on the European side closely involves the EPO and several national offices.
Turning to legal affairs, the Council noted information about the latest developments on the Community patent given by the Slovenian and French delegations, representing the states holding the rotating European Union presidency in the first and second halves of 2008.
It then noted the oral report on the Working Party on Litigation's 12th meeting (held in Munich on the sidelines of the Council's own meeting), given by Roland Grossenbacher as one of the three co-chairs.
Next, the Council noted that the Austrian and Hungarian offices had decided to extend their co-operation to PCT work.
Under technical co-operation/information, the Council heard an oral report from the chairman of the Working Party on Technical Information on its last meeting, and approved a new scale of charges for EPOQUE-BNS access by EPO member states.
It also noted a progress report on co-operation with the member states, and then unanimously approved the Office's proposed new approach to co-operation policy with non-contracting states.
Moving on to automation, the Council unanimously approved the new philosophy underlying the IT strategic plan which the Office intends to implement in 2008-2010.
Under personnel matters, the Council unanimously approved an amendment to the specimen contract for principal directors and a draft decision enabling the Office, under narrowly defined conditions, to recruit each year a small number of grade A4/A1 staff under contract.
It then discussed at length the avenues explored by the Office to reform its pension scheme and resolve taxation issues. Most delegations took the view that the requisite time should be devoted to this complex matter; hasty decisions would not be helpful. The Office said its further reflections would take due account of the delegations' remarks, and a workshop would be held in September 2008. The President said however that in her view a decision had to be taken in autumn 2008, to enable new provisions to enter into force on 1 January 2009 which would apply only to staff joining as from that date.
The Council decided to decline jurisdiction for various misdirected internal appeals and to forward them to the President for further action.
On financial and budget matters, the Council heard a report from Maria-Ludovica Agrò (IT), chairwoman of the Budget and Finance Committee, on its 93rd meeting. It also noted the Office's explanation of the problems of applying IAS 19.7 ("plan assets approach") and that EPO finance staff would look into the possibility of applying IAS 39 instead.
It then gave a unanimous favourable opinion on the Office's proposed new budget dynamic.
Lastly, after noting the final report of the independent study on the efficiency management landscape of the EPO, the Council noted the DG 1 action plan and gave a unanimous favourable opinion on the Office's basic assumptions for the business plan, 2009 budget and 2010-2013 estimates.