The Association of the Members of the Boards of Appeal (AMBA) sent an 'Open Letter' to all Stakeholders with an Interest in Maintaining the Boards of Appeal of the EPO as an Independent Judicial Body.
The letter specifies that:
After two years of work following the Enlarged Board’s decision R 19/12, the European Patent Office has produced a proposal for re-structuring the BoA.
[…]
The proposals represent a serious deterioration, as compared to the situation before that decision.
The Member of Parliament Agnes Jongerius (S&D) posed the following question (translations are available in French and German) to the European Parliament:
Today (Thursday, 7 April), staff at the European Patent Office (EPO) went on strike in order once again to draw attention to their difficult working conditions. The Court of Justice of the EU had previously called for these conditions to be improved, but nothing was done in response to that pronouncement. Conditions at the EPO have reached a nadir, but the EPO is not alone in this respect. At other EU institutions and agencies too, including the ECB and the Fundamental Rights Agency in Vienna, infringements of the Staff Regulations of Officials have occurred in recent years.
1. Does the Commission agree with staff at the EPO that the industrial relations climate at the EPO is unacceptable and needs to be substantially improved?
2. The Commission is an observer on the EPO's Administrative Council. In that role, is it insisting that industrial relations at the EPO be improved?
3. How does the Commission try to remedy failures of compliance at other EU institutions and agencies which ought to abide by the Staff Regulations of Officials?
Previously, on 2 February 2016, another Member of Parliament, Marc Tarabella (S&D) posed the following question (original question in French):
Written Questions E-009256/2015 and E-010497/2015 drew the Commission's attention to the appalling situation at the European Patent Office (EPO).
Following the implementation of the 2010 plan to increase productivity, a ban on trade union activity, repeated privacy violations, harassment and unachievable productivity targets which make a mockery of European workers' rights have put the EPO's 7 000 staff in a very difficult position. Since 2012, four of them have committed suicide.
The Commission has a representative with observer status on the EPO's Administrative Council who rarely intervenes, despite the governance problems.
What is the exact role of the Commission representative?
Does he/she report back to the Commission on the management problems?
During its March meeting, the Administrative Council (the Supervisory Body) of the EPO passed a resolution making a number of requests to the Mr Battistelli, President of the EPO. None of the changes that Mr Battistelli will table to the June meeting of the Administrative Council (AC) comply with these requests.
The reforms proposed by Mr Battistelli - if adopted by the Council - will further increase the discretionary powers of the President over EPO staff and their representatives (new investigation regulations, new disciplinary procedures, post-service employment restrictions) and reduce the independence of the Boards of Appeals (reform of DG3). In short, the new proposals are bad for staff and bad for the EPO.
In spite of the many proposals tabled by SUEPO in the (recent) past and of the clear request of the Administrative Council, SUEPO - representing 50% of staff, was not even approached by the President to re-open discussions about a Memorandum of Understanding.
By acting this way, Mr Battistelli shows a blatant disregard not only for staff but also for the representatives of the EPO Member States.
The results of the 2016 EPO Staff Survey by Technologia are now available. With a participation rate of 39% this third edition allows to assess reliably the current situation and the development of psychosocial risk among EPO staff under Mr Battistelli’s presidentship. The situation and the trend are worrying.
Most important findings are available in the “Executive Summary” (also available in German, French and Dutch). Other relevant information has been gathered in a summary presentation (also available in German and French).
The raw results to all questions (compared with the results of the 2010 and 2013 editions) are also available in three languages: English, German and French.
No progress has been made on staff’s claims (see e.g. last call for strike “Lawfulness at the EPO”). There is also no sign that Mr Battistelli intends to respect the March resolution of the Administrative Council. On the contrary: new controversial reforms are planned (EPO health insurance, dismissal procedure, post-employment obligations), some already for decision in the next meeting of the Administrative Council on 29-30 June. In order to flag the lack of progress to the Administrative Council, a demonstration at all four places of employment is planned for Thursday 9 June. The demonstration will coincide with the EPO European Inventor Award ceremony in Lisbon.
On Wednesday 11 May 2016, a demonstration will take place in Munich (Germany) starting from the Kurt Haertel passage at 12.15h and ending at the French consulate.
The French MP Philip Cordery, reported in a blog post dated 25 April 2016 about a joint letter (written with other French MPs: Pierre-Yves Le Borgn', Richard Yung, Claudine Lepage, Jean-Yves Leconte and Hélène Conway-Mouret; link to an archived version), dated 21 April 2016, to the French Minister of Economic Affairs Emmanuel Macron. The letter was sent "in order to demand once again that France take action towards a reform of the management of this international organization".
Translations of the blog post are available in English, German and Dutch (by scrolling through the document).
Translations of the letter are also available in English, German and Dutch.