The Management Board and Budget Committee meetings of the EUIPO took place online for the second time.
EUIPO’s Management Board and Budget Committee are composed of representatives of the Member States of the EU, the European Commission and the European Parliament, with the Benelux Office of Intellectual Property (BOIP), the European Patent Office (EPO), the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO), the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO), and user associations acting as observers during the non-confidential parts of the meetings.
During the three-day meeting period, Management Board members agreed to launch a selection procedure for a post of Chairperson of a Board of Appeal of the Office; they also appointed three Members of the Boards of Appeal. The Management Board also decided to extend the term of office of one Member of the Boards of Appeal.
During the Management Board and Budget Committee joint meeting, Members were informed of the Progress Report on the implementation of the Office’s activities and exchanged views on the SP2020 closure report in terms of achievements and benefits.
In view of the challenges that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are experiencing in the context of the COVID-19, the Office proposed to launch a number of initiatives, together with the European Commission and the central industrial property offices of the Member States and the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property to support SMEs. One of these initiatives is the ‘SME FUND’, aimed at financially supporting those EU SMEs that wish to protect and manage their IPRs through the national, regional and EU IP system, by using part of the Office’s financial reserves. The Management Board authorised the Office to take the necessary steps to engage in and implement the SME FUND, while the Budget Committee authorised the Office to establish the necessary budgetary mechanisms for the use of the financial reserves of the Office to implement the SME FUND. In this context, the Management Board agreed to adjust the scope of ECP6 to become further aligned with the priorities for this business segment by including the “SMEs focused promotional activities” package.
Moreover, the Management Board approved the Annual Work Programme 2021 of the Office and adopted the proposal for the distribution of the offsetting amount corresponding to the budgetary year 2019.
Finally, the participants were briefed on the status of legislative initiatives by the Commission and by the current and future Presidencies of the EU (Germany and Portugal, respectively).
During the Budget Committee meeting, Members received information on the budgetary impact of the implementation of the Strategic Plan 2020 in terms of revenue and expenditure.
The Budget Committee approved the Budget of the Office for 2021.
In addition, the Delegates were also updated on the state of play of the Office’s Treasury Management and were provided with an update on the status of the Office Campus.
In parallel, the governing bodies have adopted in the past weeks a number of decisions by written procedure, such as the adoption of the Common Practices – CP11 and CP12 and the application by analogy of the Commission Decision C(2020) 1559 on leave. The information related to these decisions is available at https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/governance.
euipo.europa.eu
pixabay
