Meetings and agendas

The very first President of the EPO, Mr Johannes Bob van Benthem, expressed the wish to establish a permanent forum for exchanges with interested circles shortly after the opening of the EPO in 1978. The inaugural meeting of SACEPO was held on 12 January 1979 with yearly meetings taking place ever since. In addition to this Main SACEPO meeting, further theme-focused Working Parties of SACEPO were added over the years to deepen the exchange with users - the Working Parties on Patent Documentation and Information (1982), on Rules (1996), on Guidelines (1998), on the e-Patent-Process (2016) and on Quality (2017).