European Institutions
The EPO has set up an office in Brussels to coordinate its relations with European institutions, i.e. the European Commission (EC), the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament (EP). It also liaises with several European industry associations and NGOs (based mainly in Brussels) and representing IP stakeholders. These include: BusinessEurope, UEAPME (European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises), DIGITAL EUROPE, CEFIC (European Chemical Industry Council), EuropaBio (European Association for Bioindustries), and also research organisations and NGOs, such as: Fraunhofer Gesellschaft and FFII (Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure).
Background
Over the past few years, relations with European
institutions have improved with greater cooperation between the EPO and the
various institutions. This relationship is central to overcoming many of the
challenges that the Office is presently facing. Issues such as: the EU patent,
the creation of a European and EU Patent
Court system, the pilot projects of interest to the EU in the frame of the EPN,
and international cooperation programmers, to name a few. These issues cannot
be treated in an isolated way, they require extensive collaboration and a common
approach with the different European institutions for progress to be made.
On the other hand, the EPO is itself one of the world's leading players when it
comes to IP co-operation projects. This includes the many EC-funded projects the
Office implements both in Europe and in
developing countries all over the world.
With the establishment of a direct link between the EPO and the European Institutions, the Brussels office succeeded in increasing EPO efficiency thus providing more successful results for both the Office and its Partners.
Objectives
Objectives regarding European institutions include the following:
- fostering a network of contacts with the European institutions, notably the EC, the EP and industry associations, as well as NGOs representing IP stakeholders;
- strengthening the EPO's visibility and an understanding of its role among the different EC units and the EP, and ensuring that the EPO's views reach the relevant decision-makers by exchanging technical information and views on IP;
- co-ordinating the EC-funded co-operation projects implemented by the Office. This means the early identification of EC calls for proposals on projects within the EU and in third countries potentially interesting for the EPO and the European Patent Network, the preparation and submission of bids filed in response to these calls, contract negotiations with the EC, and reporting in compliance with the EC rules and procedures.
Tasks
To achieve these objectives, the department:
- proposes a policy and strategy for the EPO's relations with the European institutions;
- maintains regular contact with EC officials and Members of the European Parliament (MEPs);
- exchanges information and opinions concerning IP with the European institutions (through official and unofficial channels);
- organises meetings between the President (and other EPO staff) and high-ranking EC officials and MEPs;
- supports public awareness events and campaigns, in co-ordination with the EPO's Communication Department;
- screens and identifies possible EU-funded co-operation projects, including potential consortium partners;
- provides support in setting up the management of these projects and reporting to the EC.
Milestones
Since its creation, the Brussels bureau has broadened the scope and activities of the EPO, and has already reached a number of milestones:
- regular and thriving relations with the EC's innovation DGs: DG Research, DG Enterprise and DG Information Society
- establishment of relations with other DGs: DG Trade, DG External Relations, DG Enlargement and DG Regio
- consolidation of relations with the EP
- allocation of the "IP for Innovation" (ip4inno) project to the consortium led by the EPO
- collaboration on projects outside the EU, e.g. a major EU-China partnership project on the protection of intellectual property rights (known as "IPR 2").
Events
The Brussels office regularly organises breakfast meetings with EU stakeholders on specific issues of interest to the EPO. Recent meetings have featured presentations of the EPO's machine translation programme, the EPO's view on standardisation and EPO cooperation on international level. The Brussels office will also host a pre-launch event on clean-energy patents, as well as support the organisation of a flagship conference in Brussels in autumn to present the findings of a joint study by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the EPO and the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) on the relationship between patents and the development and transfer of clean-energy technologies.
Contacts
Jean-Luc Gal, Head of the Brussels bureau
General contact Brussels bureau
e-mail: brussels@epo.org