Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation


The Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation, the other being the European Patent Office. The Administrative Council acts as the Organisation's supervisory body as well as, to a limited extent, its legislative body. The actual legislative power to revise the European Patent Convention lies with the Contracting States themselves when meeting at a Conference of the Contracting States. In contrast, the EPO acts as executive body of the Organisation.

Composition and competences

The Administrative Council is made up of members of the Contracting States and is responsible for overseeing the work of the European Patent Office, ratifying the budget and approving the actions of the President of the Office. The Council is also competent for amending the Implementing Regulations of the European Patent Convention and some particular provisions of the Articles of the EPC. Each Contracting State on the Administrative Council has one vote, except under certain circumstances provided for by.
The Chairperson of the Administrative Council is responsible for the work of the Council and its function. The Chairperson also presides over the meetings of the Council.
Under, the Administrative Council has set up a Board composed of five of its members, including the Chairman, the Deputy Chairman and three other members elected by the Administrative Council, to perform duties assigned by the Administrative Council. The Board is informally called "Board 28", named after Article 28 EPC, and as of 2008 was carrying out a "workload study", i.e., a study on how to manage the workload facing the European Patent Office.
The Administrative Council is in charge of appointing the President of the European Patent Office. A majority of three-quarters of the votes of the Contracting States represented and voting is required for appointing the President of the EPO. Reaching a decision on the appointment of a President was difficult in 2003, leading to a split tenure was elected for three years and Alison Brimelow, and was difficult again in 2009, requiring twenty votes and four meetings. When voting, a lot of the members of the Administrative Council are reportedly working under instructions from their respective government, whereas the governments "can have many motivations for supporting one person rather than another."

Criticism

The Staff Union of the European Patent Office has criticized the Administrative Council as being in a conflict of interest situation: