REPRESENTATION
Examination Board for the European Qualifying Examination
1. Members of the Examination Committees
Upon expiry of their terms of office, Mr A.B. Denham (GB) has been reappointed with effect from 1 March 1992, Mr I. Harris (GB) with effect from 1 April 1992, Mr J. Callewaert (BE) with effect from 1 May 1992 and Mrs E. Kossonakou (GR) with effect from 15 May 1992. Mr J. Callewaert's term of office will end on 31 October 1993; the term of office for the other members will end on 31 October 1994.
Mr J.A. Strebel (DE) ceased to be a member of an examination committee on 29 February 1992; Mr G. Widtmann (AT) ceased also to be a member of an examination committee on 31 March 1992.
The Examination Board has appointed Mrs T. Karamanli (GR) and Mr K. Gymer (GB) with effect from 1 March 1992 and Mrs S. White (GB) with effect from 1 April 1992 as members of one of the three examination committees; their term of office will end on 31 October 1994.
2. European Qualifying Examination 1993
2.1 Date and centres
The European Qualifying Examination will be held from 31 March to 2 April 1993 at the European Patent Office in Munich, at its branch in The Hague (Rijswijk) and at its sub-office in Berlin.
In addition, the examination will be held in centres where the national central industrial property offices of Contracting States to the European Patent Convention are located or at a location appointed by the Head of the national central industrial property office if the following two conditions are fulfilled: at least ten candidates must be enrolled for a given centre and the Head of the national central office in question must be agreeable to holding the examination on the above-mentioned date at this centre. In case conditions for holding the examination at the centre chosen by the candidate cannot be met, the candidate should indicate in his application form for the European Qualifying Examination whether in that event he would wish to sit the examination in Munich, The Hague or Berlin, or withdraw from the examination. He is not permitted to indicate an alternative other than Munich, The Hague or Berlin.
In all non-EPO centres there is only a limited number of places; they will be allotted in the order in which applications to sit the Examination are received. The remaining candidates will be asked to go to Munich, The Hague or Berlin.
2.2 Period for submission of applications
Applications for enrolment, which must meet the requirements of Article 16 of the Regulation on the European Qualifying Examination (OJ EPO 1991, 85), may be submitted as of now to the Secretariat of the Examination Board (European Patent Office, Munich); they must be received at the European Patent Office not later than 4 December 1992. The European Patent Office stamp showing the date of receipt will constitute proof. Applications for enrolment received after that date will be refused.
It is recommended that the form reproduced on p. 320 be used to apply for enrolment for the European Qualifying Examination. It may be copied from the Official Journal.
Where an application for enrolment is filed by fascimile, written confirmation reproducing the contents of the facsimile documents must be supplied within a non-extendable period of one month.
Applications should be submitted as early as possible to give the Examination Board sufficient time to check whether the conditions for enrolment have been fulfilled.
2.3 Examination fee
The fee for sitting the examination is DEM 800.
Articles 5 to 9 of the Rules relating to Fees and the Implementing Rules thereto enacted by the President of the European Patent Office apply as regards payment of the fee.
The application for enrolment will not be deemed to have been received until the date on which the payment of the fee is considered to have been made pursuant to Article 8 of the Rules relating to Fees. If that date is later than 4 December 1992, the application will be refused. Articles 121 and 122 EPC are not applicable.
Several candidates for the previous examinations failed to pay the examination fee in time. Attention is therefore urgently drawn to the ten-day period laid down in Article 8(3) of the Rules relating to Fees.
Candidates can withdraw from the examination. IF the withdrawal is notified to the Examination Board at least four weeks before the start of the examination then, on request, 75% of the examination fee will either be refunded or counted towards the fee payable in respect of a subsequent application for enrolment for the European Qualifying Examination. For withdrawals which are received later this will apply only in exceptional circumstances.
2.4 Enrolment
2.4.1 Professional activity (Articles 7(1)(b), 16(2)(b) of the Regulation on the European Qualifying Examination = REE)
(a) Article 7(1)(b), (3) REE - Activities pertaining to European and national patent applications or patents
Candidates will not be required to have taken part in activities pertaining to "European" patent applications or patents. It will suffice to have taken part in activities pertaining to "national" patent applications or patents.
With reference to sub-paragraphs (ii) and (iii), it will not be necessary to have acted "before the European Patent Office in accordance with Article 133, paragraph 3, of the European Patent Convention". It will suffice to have acted before the national central industrial property office in accordance with a national provision or practice corresponding to Article 133(3) EPC.
(b) Article 7(1)(b)(i) REE - Professional Representative
The person responsible for supervision must be entered on the list of professional representatives by the date of the application for the examination by the candidate in accordance with Article 16 REE.
(c) Article 16(2)(b) REE - Training or Employment Certificate
It is recommended that the form reproduced on p. 322 be used. It may be copied from the Official Journal.
(d) Article 16(2)(b) REE - Nature and scope of duties performed by the candidate
The certificate(s) must indicate the nature and scope of the duties performed by the candidate during the training period. It is in the interest of both the training supervisor and the candidate that from the outset of the three-year training period the candidate should take part in a wide range of relevant activities, i.e. have the opportunity to prepare first applications, replies to examiners' communications, and notices of opposition and appeal. A record should be kept of such activities so that on completion of the training period figures can be entered in the certificate.
The Examination Board has noted that candidates who according to their training or employment certificate(s) have taken part in few relevant activities tend to fail the European Qualifying Examination more often than others. A candidate who during his minimum three-year training period has prepared twenty or more first applications will not be required to provide further particulars about this. Where the number is less than twenty, the Board Secretariat will generally ask the candidate to provide detailed evidence of what he did during this training. As a general rule candidates will have prepared more than twenty replies to examiners' communications and less than twenty notices of opposition and appeal. Those whose certificate(s) show(s) a particularly low total of relevant activities must in future reckon with the likelihood that their application for enrolment will be rejected (Article 18(1) REE).
2.4.2 Remission of periods of professional activity (Article 8(2) REE)
The Examination Board's current practice regarding recognition of successfully completed advanced specialised studies or training courses within the meaning of Article 8(2) REE will be maintained (OJ EPO 1980, 221, point 5.4.3).
3. Article 9(b) REE
The Examination Board has decided that, as from the 1992 European Qualifying Examination, candidates must also furnish evidence of a general knowledge of the national laws of the United States of America and Japan, to the extent that they are relevant to proceedings before the European Patent Office (see also OJ EPO 1991, 77, point 4).
For technical reasons, the forms embedded in this article are only available in the PDF version.