Recently a letter from Ms Andrea Vosshoff (Bundesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und die Informationsrecht) to Ms Renate Kunast (Vorsitzende des Ausschusses für Recht und Verbraucherschutz) came to our attention.In this letter Ms Vosshoff asks for attention to certain weaknesses in the data protection set-up in the EPO. She asks the above mentioned committee for support in addressing the issues.

SUEPO intends to write a letter in support of this initiative, requesting to be heard in the matter.An aspect that seems thus far to have been overlooked is that Art. 20(1) EPO PPI seems to provide for a cooperation with the "competent authorities" in health and safety regulations and "similar regulations".The latter would seem to cover data protection regulations.

The number of ILO-AT member organizations continues to increase totalling 60 today as opposed to 25 in 1990 and 40 in 2000 - thus raisins concerns about the continued capacity of the Tribunal to carry out its responsibilities effectively.The ILO intends to hold a debate and prepare a guidance paper highlighting any difficulties encountered by the Tribunal in managing its workload. In preparing this paper, the ILO has submitted a questionnaire to be filled by all stakeholders.

SUEPO's answer to the subject questionnaire can be found here.

It represents the views of SUEPO and was prepared with the input from the following staff associations/unions: FICSA, WHO, WTO, WIPO, WMO, OPCW, IFAD, BIODIVERSITY INT, ESO, CERN and EMBL.

Update 29/10/2015: The ILO has now published the guidance paper which is available here.

Document temporarily not uploaded due to threats of reprisals from EPO management. SUEPO is taking appropriate action to counter the threats.

Document temporarily not uploaded due to threats of reprisals from EPO management. SUEPO is taking appropriate action to counter the threats.

Document temporarily removed due to threats of reprisals from EPO management. SUEPO is taking appropriate action to counter the threats.

IPKat reports on the article of the Dutch newspaper, de Volkskrant, focusing on the latest suicide at the EPO:

"Merpel urges the Administrative Council (AC) to act, and to act quickly. Discussions about whether the Office has immunity from employment law or is exempt from the prevailing standards of employee care throughout the EU are not only immaterial, they are repugnant in the present circumstances. Each AC delegate should take individual responsibility to ensure that the next time such a personal tragedy occurs, nobody thinks it newsworthy and nobody links it to the EPO as a place of employment."

The next demonstration will take place on Tuesday 15 September, starting at 12.00h from the Pschorrhöfe complex in Munich.From there the demonstrators will march to the local Labour Inspectorate, Gewerbeaufsichtsamt (Heßtraße 130).

In a letter addressed to the Gewerbeaufsichtsamt, SUEPO describes the current climate in the Office and the purpose of the demonstration.

De Volkskrant (printable version) reports on the fifth suicide since 2012 at the EPO and the persistent refusal of Mr Battistelli to let the Labour Inspectorate enter the premises.Similar articles were published inDe Telegraaf (1 ,2),HR Praktijk,FOK!andDe Morgen.

Translations in English, French and German are available by scrolling through the document. The article was also published in the paper version of 10 September 2015.

Document temporarily removed due to threats of reprisals from EPO management. SUEPO is taking appropriate action to counter the threats.

SUEPO sent a letter to the delegations to inform them of the suicide of an EPO colleague. It is the fifth suicide at the EPO in 39 months, and the third one in Patent Administration (DG2). The Central Staff Committee (CSC) already sent letters on this topic on 5 December 2013, 16 September 2014 and 17 April 2015. These letters are still left unanswered. A copy of the latest letter can be found here.