IPKat reveals the minutes of the Administrative Council meeting of December 2014 in two posts:

• Part I deals with the "house ban" controversially imposed on a member of the Boards of Appeal,
• Part II deals with the "new career system" at the EPO.

"Readers from European Patent contracting states may wish to note how their own delegations responded to the EPO at this critical time. Bearing in mind that the delegations to the Administrative Council are effectively the legislature of the EPO and their primary constitutional function is to act as a check on the executive (namely the President and his management structure)."

Philip Cordery, member of the French Parliament, has published an article(en,de) criticising the "antisocial policy of the EPO" recently condemned by the Dutch Court of Appeal in The Hague.

In his view, Benoît Battistelli "has once again distinguished himself by rejecting a court decision from a democratic State, on the pretext that this would be contrary to the principle of immunity which the EPO enjoys"."It is now a matter of urgency for the management to realise that the EPO cannot be an area where law does not prevail, and that it must respectinternational working standards and the European Charter on fundamental rights."

In this spirit, Philip Cordery has called upon Guy Ryder, Director General of the ILO(Letter to Guy Ryder (en,de))and the European Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska(Letter to European Commissioner (en,de)), to intervene.

A SUEPO lawyer addresses Heiko Maas and informs him of the latest reforms and developments at the EPO.A copy of the letter and a translation in English are available.

Dennis de Jong, a Dutch member of the European Parliament has posed questions to the European Commission under the title "Rights of staff and ethical standards at the European Patent Office".

The Council of the European Union has adopted on 12 May 2014, Guidelines on Freedom of Expression Online and Offline.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has proposed a number of measures to increase the accountability of international organisations.These include holding States responsible for the actions of international organisations that they assist, contribute to, or of which they are members.

The Assembly invites all Council of Europe member States, and international organisations of which they are a part to formulate clear guidelines regarding the waiv er of immunity by international organisations or otherwise limiting the breadth of the immunity theyenjoy before national courts, in order to ensure that the necessary functional immunity does not shield them from scrutiny regarding, in particular, their adherence to non-derogable human rights standards.

The Report of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights from Mr José María BENEYTO is available here.

The European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) which represents more than 265 unions has issued a communiqué.

The General Secretary of EPSU has directly addressed Benoît Battistelli and the Administrative Council.

Members of the European Parliament have posed questions.

Members of the Dutch Social Party (SP) have posed questions (en,fr,de) to the Dutch Minister of Justice on 2 March 2015.

These questions serve as a complement to earlier questions (en,fr,de) posed by Kerstens and Maij (PvdA) on 27 February 2015.

On 26 February 2015, Mr Battistelli published a laconic note to EPO staff referring to the "Aanzegging" of the Dutch Minister of Justice.

The Aanzegging is an admonition to the Court Bailiff. The Bailiffs may not enter the EPO premises to try and enforce the judgment, more specifically by (trying to)confiscate property and assets of the Organization.

SUEPO sets the record straight on immunity and enforcement in the publication available here, .

The Executive branch of the Dutch government is trying to prevent "physical enforcement" of the terms of the judgement of the Dutch Court of Appeal.The Dutch Minister of Justice, Ivo Opstelten, sent an admonition to the Court Bailiff stating that the Bailiffs may not enter the EPO premises.

Coverage from the Dutch and German press

De Volkskrant (cover page of paper edition of 26 February 2015) (en,fr,de),De Telegraaf (en,fr,de),Joop andNRC Handelsblad covered the controversy that the executive interferes in the judiciary, and that immunity prevails over human rights.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung, "Recht haben und recht bekommen" (en,fr) (27 February 2015) reports that a spokesperson for the Dutch Ministry of External Affairs confirmed that the EPO exerted pressure on the Dutch authorities to defend its position that it enjoys immunity from execution of the judgement.

"The European states, including Germany, should never have ratified the Convention relating to the European Patent Office," says Siegfried Broß, a former judge of the German Constitutional Court, "because it places the fundamental and human rights of EPO employees at the disposition of the Office Administration."

IPKat and HR Praktijk also report on these events.

The Dutch Socialist Party reacts

The Dutch Socialist Party (Socialistische Partij, SP) published an article (English version): "Government must no permit human rights abuses" (printable version).

Questions posed by members of the Tweede Kamer of the Netherlands

Members of the Labour Party (PvdA) have now has posed questions on 27 February 2015 to Ivo Opstelten, Dutch Minister of Justice (printable version) (en,fr,de).The Labour Party (PvdA) currently forms a coalition government with the Liberal Party (VVD).

In July 2014 they had posed the earlier questions referred to in Question 2. The answers(printable version) (en,fr,de) of the Minister of Social Affairs and Labour confirmed the problem of the immunity of the EPO when trying to run an investigation on the working conditions and the respect of the rights of the employees.The Minister of Social Affairs and Labour did seem to agree, referring to Article 20 PPI that the EPO should comply with relevant Dutch legislation. However, the Labour Inspection could do nothing without permission of the EPO's president.