ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL
Reports on meetings of the Administrative Council
Report on the 132nd meeting of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation (26 to 28 June 2012)
The Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation held its 132nd meeting in Munich from 26 to 28 June 2012, with Jesper Kongstad (DK) in the chair.
Having noted the activities report from its chairman, the Council heard the activities report for the first half of 2012 given by the President, Benoît Battistelli. It congratulated the President together with the Office's management and staff on the outstanding recent performance of the Office, a continuation of very positive trends already registered.
Under general affairs, the Council unanimously decided to grant Bosnia and Herzegovina observer status on the Technical and Operational Support Committee (Bosnia and Herzegovina already had observer status at meetings of the Administrative Council and the Committee on Patent Law).
The Council then unanimously approved the President's recommendations on a new publication policy for Administrative Council documents as a means to ensure greater transparency towards the general public.
The Council appointed Alberto Casado Cerviño (ES) Vice-President of Directorate-General 2 for a period of five years and paid tribute to the outgoing Vice-President DG 2, Peter Vermeij (NL).
Serafeim Stasinos (GR) was elected chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee for a three-year term starting on 27 June 2012 and ending on 26 June 2015. Mr Stasinos succeeds Guus Broesterhuizen (NL), to whom the Council paid tribute at the end of the meeting.
The Council appointed Christoph Ernst (DE) and Matti Päts (EE) as members of its Board ("B28") for a non-renewable three-year term starting on 27 June 2012 and ending on 26 June 2015.
Catherine Margellou (GR) was then appointed member of the Supervisory Board of the Academy of the European Patent Organisation for a non-renewable three-year term, starting on 1 July 2012 and ending on 30 June 2015.
The Council also made a series of appointments to the boards of appeal, namely:
- Peter Guntz (DE), appointed legally qualified member of the boards of appeal, subject to Articles 8 and 9 of the Service Regulations and with effect from a date to be agreed upon between him and the President;
- Wilhelm Ungler (AT), appointed legally qualified member of the boards of appeal with effect from 1 October 2012;
- Guy Patton (FR), appointed technically qualified member of the boards of appeal with effect from 1 October 2012;
- Regina Hauss (DE), appointed technically qualified member of the boards of appeal with effect from 1 October 2012;
- Marco Montrone (DE/IT), appointed technically qualified member of the boards of appeal with effect from 1 October 2012.
Turning then to legal and international affairs, the Council unanimously authorised the Office to draw up and conclude, for a three-year trial period, an administrative agreement reducing the search fee payable by specific categories of applicants from four member states which already have working agreement on search co-operation.
The Council also unanimously approved a draft decision amending Rule 54 EPC.
On the subject of the unitary patent, the Council noted with great satisfaction the very promising progress report delivered by the Danish delegation, representing the country holding the EU presidency for the first half of 2012, and the indication by its chairman that, depending on decisions to be taken during the EU summit in Brussels at the end of the same week, he would come back to the member states with procedural proposals to be established in close co-operation with the President.
With respect to co-operation with member states, the Council approved a new EPOQUE Net dissemination and pricing policy.
Concerning financial matters, budget and planning, having noted the oral report given by Guus Broesterhuizen (NL), speaking in his capacity as outgoing chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee, on the committee's 103rd meeting (22-23 May 2012), the Council unanimously approved the 2011 accounts and was particularly pleased to note that unit costs had continued to decline in 2011. As a consequence, following the Board of Auditors' recommendation in their report on the 2011 accounting period, the Council unanimously discharged the President in respect of implementation of the 2011 budget and the Administrator of the Reserve Funds for Pensions and Social Security in respect of fund management in 2011.
Finally, the Council gave a unanimous favourable opinion on the initial 2013 budgetary orientations presented by the Office.