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.

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.

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.

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, .

Back in November 2013, Raimund Lutz (VP5) published a reader's letter (en,fr) in the Süddeutsche Zeitung and commented on articles about the social conflict at the EPO after the entry into force of the new strike regulations and the limitations on union emails.

"Der in den Artikeln vermittelte Eindruck, der Rechtsschutz für EPA-Beamte sei unzureichend und entspreche nicht europäischen Menschenrechtsstandards, ist abwegig." said Raimund Lutz, Vice-President Legal and International Affaires (DG5).

Translation in English: "The impression given in the articles, that the legal protection for EPO staff is insufficient and does not accord with European human rights standards, is incorrect".

In the joint interview published in Managing IP:

"There is absolutely no doubt that any proposal that would not fit with any international standards on human rights and worker rights would never have a chance to go through our process." said Jesper Kongstad, Chairman of the Administrative Council of the EPO.

"EPO respects all principles on human rights and worker rights and applies the best possible international standards." said Benoît Battistelli, President of the EPO.