​​Review of EPO quality initiatives brings priorities for 2025 into focus at SACEPO’s autumn meeting

Participants at the 13th meeting of the SACEPO Working Party on Quality have reviewed the outcomes of the EPO’s Quality Action Plan, Stakeholder Quality Assurance Panels and recent workshop on clarity.  

On 26 November, the SACEPO Working Party on Quality (WP/Q) held its final meeting of 2024. Over 100 participants, including user representatives from 26 countries and all regions of the world, attended the online session to engage in lively exchanges on recent quality initiatives at the EPO and discuss ongoing efforts to ensure the highest quality at every stage of the patent granting process.  

EPO President António Campinos addressed the participants, emphasising that SACEPO WP/Q serves as one of the EPO’s key global user forums for open dialogue and transparency. Commenting on the impact of members’ feedback, he said: “We don’t just collect comments; we analyse, we measure and, most importantly, we act.”  

Reporting on progress: translating user feedback into actions  

Following on from the June SACEPO WP/Q meeting, which focused on the Quality Action Plan 2024, the EPO reported on progress made and provided updates on the forthcoming Quality Action Plan 2025, which will once again be based on extensive user feedback and regular internal audits.  

The EPO also provided information requested by SACEPO members on its engagement with SMEs and the shared area in MyEPO. Further, SACEPO WP/Q members were invited to give feedback on the EPO’s Quality Report 2023 and make suggestions for the Quality Report 2024, which will be published by the end of June 2025.    

Clarity workshop outcomes: a shared journey towards higher quality patents 

A workshop on clarity was held on 20-21 November for the first time. Developed in response to feedback from SACEPO members, the workshop underscored the shared responsibility of both applicants and the EPO in meeting clarity requirements, with a view to enhancing understanding, improving claim drafting and ensuring a smoother examination process.  

Members who attended the workshop shared key outcomes, which will feed into both the EPO’s Quality Report 2024 and Quality Action Plan 2025, providing a foundation for further streamlining the patent granting process and upholding clarity in the European patent system.  

Stakeholder Quality Assurance Panels (SQAPs) 2024: assessing quality with our users 

From 21 to 23 October 2024, more than 100 patent files were jointly reviewed by 61 assessors across 18 technical panels in the technical areas of digital technologies, electronics and physics, health and agri-food, infrastructure and mechanics, energy, mobility and space technologies, as well as materials and production.  

In the SACEPO WP/Q meeting, each panel reported on their findings and observations. Members expressed their appreciation of the expanded scope of this year’s SQAPs, which covered various stages of the patent granting process, namely search reports and written opinions, grants and, for the first time this year, refusals. The panels’ findings stressed the importance of consistency in applying our legal framework and of dialogue between examining divisions and representatives during the patent granting process. These outcomes will also translate into action by feeding into the EPO’s Quality Action Plan 2025. In addition, a full SQAPs report will be included in the Quality Report 2024. Valuable feedback was also presented on further enhancing the SQAP process itself.  

Boards of Appeal (BoA) outcomes: transparent tracking of KPIs  

Members welcomed the presentation of new KPIs developed in the light of extensive analysis of BoA decisions from 2023 in ex parte and inter partes proceedings. The KPIs will be added to the EPO’s publicly available online Quality dashboard in January 2025. Progress on these will be transparently tracked alongside the existing public KPIs.  

About SACEPO WP/Q  

Meeting twice a year, SACEPO WP/Q brings together a representative group of users of the European patent system from all over the world. Appointed by the President of the EPO for a period of three years, SACEPO members engage in dialogue with the EPO on its latest initiatives to ensure the highest quality at every stage of the patent granting process.   

Beyond SACEPO meetings, the EPO gathers feedback through various channels, including independent user satisfaction surveys, online public consultations, the Ombuds office and regular meetings with key applicants. This continuous input enables the EPO to refine its products and services through initiatives that address evolving applicant needs. These efforts are documented annually in the Quality Action Plan and Quality Report.