REPRESENTATION
Examination Board for the European Qualifying Examination
Decision of the Examination Board
Article 1
Article 10 of the decision of the Examination Board of 19 May 1994 adopting Instructions concerning the qualifications required for enrolment for the European qualifying examination shall be replaced by the following text:
(1)(a) Academic institutions located in one of the contracting states may request that candidates who have successfully completed advanced specialised studies in the field of industrial property at that institution be granted a reduction of six months in the duration of the periods of professional activity defined in Article 10, paragraph 2, REE. Such requests shall be submitted to the Examination Secretariat and decided upon by the Examination Board on the basis of the following criteria:
(i) the duration of the studies is at least one academic year full-time,
(ii) the curriculum and a description of the content of the studies must be available to the public; these documents must be submitted to the Secretariat,
(iii) the number of hours devoted to each subject can be derived from the curriculum,
(iv) the curriculum indicates which subjects are obligatory and lists the criteria for selecting other subjects,
(v) upon request, the complete study material is submitted to the Secretariat,
(vi) at least 600 course hours are devoted to intellectual property,
(vii) of the 600 course hours mentioned under (vi) at least 350 are devoted to patent matters,
(viii) of the 350 course hours mentioned under (vii) at least 130 are devoted to European patent law as laid down in the European Patent Convention and to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT),
(ix) of the 600 course hours mentioned under (vi) at least 175 are given by professional representatives before the European Patent Office.
(b) If the Examination Board grants a request under (a), that decision will be valid only for the academic year in respect of which the request was made and will apply only to candidates who request a reduction on the basis of that decision and are able to show that they have successfully completed their studies in that academic year.
(2) The Secretariat may grant a reduction of up to one year on the periods of professional activity defined in Article 10, paragraph 2, REE to candidates who have been examiners with the European Patent Office or one of the national patent offices of the contracting states.
(3) Candidates who have completed the eight months' training with the German patent authorities and who have been admitted to sit the qualifying examination for German patent agents will be granted a reduction of six months.
(4) The period of professional activity under Article 10, paragraph 2, REE and the periods under paragraph 1, 2 and 3 of this Article may not overlap.
Article 2
This decision shall enter into force on 1 August 2008. Article 10, paragraphs 1 and 3, of the existing Instructions shall continue to apply where the advanced specialised studies, training courses or activities mentioned therein have been completed prior to that date.
For the Examination Board
The Chairman