Work Programme 2017 - European Union Intellectual · PDF fileline of action 1: build a dynamic and ... appendix 3. balanced scorecard appendix 4. annual staff policy plan appendix

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Work Programme 2017

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

MESSAGE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

STRATEGIC PLAN IMPLEMENTATION

EXECUTION OF THE STRATEGIC PLAN IN 2017

LINE OF ACTION 1: BUILD A DYNAMIC AND KNOWLEDGEABLE ORGANISATION

LINE OF ACTION 2: INCREASE TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

LINE OF ACTION 3: FOSTER AN EFFECTIVE AND SECURE DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT

LINE OF ACTION 4: INTENSIFY NETWORK ENGAGEMENT

LINE OF ACTION 5: ENHANCE CUSTOMER-DRIVEN QUALITY SERVICES

LINE OF ACTION 6: STRENGTHEN THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SYSTEM

APPENDIX 1. KEY ASSUMPTIONS ON VOLUMES

APPENDIX 2. SERVICE CHARTER 2017

APPENDIX 3. BALANCED SCORECARD

APPENDIX 4. ANNUAL STAFF POLICY PLAN

APPENDIX 5. FINANCIAL RESOURCES

APPENDIX 6. CORPORATE RISK REGISTER

APPENDIX 7. PROCUREMENT PLAN

APPENDIX 8. MISSION STATEMENT AND ORGANISATION CHART

APPENDIX 9. OBSERVATORY WORK PROGRAMME

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WORK PROGRAMME 2017

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WORK PROGRAMME 2017

MESSAGE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The new Strategic Plan 2020 (SP2020) was published in July 2016 following approval by the Management Board and Budget Committee in June. In SP2020, the Office focuses on achieving the strategic goals of improving operational effectiveness, enhancing access to the IP system and IP knowledge, and building network convergence with a global impact in order to achieve the vision of creating a user-driven European intellectual property network. These goals are built upon the twin principles of a ‘Collaborative Organisation’ and ‘International Cooperation’ and are made operational in six Lines of Action, each comprising a number of individual projects.

Overall, delivering the SP2020 vision requires a dynamic and knowledgeable organisation (Line of Action 1) that acts in a transparent and accountable manner (Line of Action 2). As we live in an increasingly digital world with all its opportunities and threats, this must be supported by an effective and secure digital environment (Line of Action 3) in terms of infrastructure and transformational power. Since the IP market is interconnected and interdependent a strong network engagement (Line of Action 4) with other players is essential. This must be coupled with the provision of high quality services that are customer driven (Line of Action 5). Taken together all these elements support the wider interpretation of our institutional mandate implicit in the Office’s new name and expanded role, at the heart of which is the vision of strengthening the intellectual property system (Line of Action 6).

This Work Programme details the action to be undertaken in 2017 by the Office under SP2020, taking into account the key assumptions on volumes and their impact on our operations. During the period covered, the Office will continue to develop its workforce with a particular focus on supporting the best talent. Transparency and efficiency will be strengthened through the implementation of Activity Based Management and by streamlining vendor management and payment systems.

Digital transformation and IT product development will be centralised in a new Department and the IT back office will be further streamlined and integrated. The goal is for the Office to be able to manage the constant growth in EUTM applications with the delivery of innovative IT tools and management principles that can support our examiners to achieve the best results. There will be reinforced attention to quality initiatives, with greater involvement of user input, and the Office will set out to increase the proportion of straight-through files by improving predictability of decision-making.

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A new framework for international cooperation will be introduced in order to meet the challenge of having a more user-friendly and interconnected IP system globally, and the Office will continue the development of the new European Cooperation Projects for which it received a specific mandate in the amended Trade Mark Regulation. Overall, the Office will continue adjusting to the challenges of SP2020 and the Legal Reform and, through the Observatory, will continue to deliver evidence-based research and strengthen cooperation and knowledge with enforcement authorities in order to support EU businesses, in particular SMEs, in protecting their rights.

António Campinos Executive Director

WORK PROGRAMME 2017


WORK PROGRAMME 2017

STRATEGIC PLAN IMPLEMENTATION

This Work Programme outlines the activities to be undertaken by the Office in 2017 within the framework of the Strategic Plan 2020. The Office remains committed to working together with users, the national and regional IP offices, the European Commission and all other stakeholders including its staff within cooperative networks that have the power to influence and promote positive change within the international context faced by EU businesses. All activities follow the priorities of the EU policies and priorities in international cooperation taking into consideration the existing Association Agreements, Free Trade Agreements and the cooperation policies settled by the EU for regional areas such as the European Neighbourhood Policy.

The strategic key performance indicators provide an overview of the Office’s achievements and implementation of projects. The indicators are linked to the strategic goals and targets defined for the next year as follows:

BALANCED SCORECARD: STRATEGIC KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Principle Strategic Goal Code Indicator Name 2016 2017

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1. Improveoperationaleffectiveness

1.1 Staff highly engaged 74.50% 76.00%

1.2 Staff understanding of the Strategic Plan 72.50% 74.00%

1.3 Staff contribution to the Strategic Plan 83.50% 85.00%

1.4 Level of achievement of the Quality Service Charter objectives 70.00% 73.00%

1.5 User satisfaction with customer services provided 81.00% 83.00%

1.6 TMs and RCDs straight-through cases 63.00% 64.00%

1.7 Incoming and outgoing electronic communications with our users 65.00% 66.00%

1.8 Greenhouse gas emissions per on-site worker 3.6 tons 3.5 tons


Two indicators have targets for 2017 below the current year target. The reason is due to:

2.3 – Advertisement Value Equivalency for Observatory Studies and Reports: The target comes from an estimation based on the studies and reports that will be disseminated by the press during 2017. In 2016, the publication of the joint report EUIPO - OECD “Trade in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods” had a major impact in the press. There is no report with a similar impact planned for 2017, therefore the target is lower.

2.4 – Training delivered to our stakeholders: the targets for 2017 are lower than 2016, because this indicator includes the training rendered for the Legal Reform implementation which had a major impact during 2016.

BALANCED SCORECARD: STRATEGIC KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Principle Strategic Goal Code Indicator Name 2016 2017

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2. Enhance access toIP system and IPknowledge

2.1 User overall satisfaction 82.00% 85.00%

2.2 Attendees satisfaction with events 75.00% 80.00%

2.3 Advertisement Value Equivalency for Observatory Studies and Reports K€3,200 K€750

2.4 Training delivered to our stakeholders 3,680 days 3,080 days

2.5 Europeans demonstrating a good objective knowledge of IP 18.00% 18.00%

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3. Build networkconvergence withglobal impact

3.1 Multi-office users expressing satisfaction with the network convergence 55.00% 55.00%

3.2 Usage of TM View, DS View and TM Class1,126,000monthly searches

1,200,000monthly searches

3.3 E-filings in the network done using ECP Tools 60.00% 63.00%

3.4 Enforcement Database usage by Enforcement Authorities

2,762 connections

2,762 connections

WORK PROGRAMME 2017


The forecast execution of the SP2020 projects is based on the project plans for those projects where the project briefs have already been approved. The execution objective of the SP2020 projects by Line of Action for 2017 is:

SP2020 - Project ExecutionObjective 2017: 45%

SP2020 - Project ExecutionObjectives 2017

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The Office’s Work Programme 2017 consists of two main parts. The first part describes the projects and running activities that the Office will engage in under the Strategic Plan in 2017. This part is divided into six separate sections aligned with the six Lines of Action defined in the Strategic Plan 2020:

Line of Action 1: Build a dynamic and knowledgeable organisation

Line of Action 2: Increase transparency and accountability

Line of Action 3: Foster an effective and secure digital environment

Line of Action 4: Intensify network engagement

Line of Action 5: Enhance customer-driven quality services

Line of Action 6: Strengthen the Intellectual Property system

The activities designed to meet these strategic objectives are organised within the six Lines of Action outlined above, and performance progress will be measured using a Balanced Scorecard (Annex III), also linking the BSC indicators to the six Lines of Action.

The second part is composed of the annexes reflecting the guidelines for programming documents for decentralised agencies. This part outlines the key assumptions on volumes, service charter, key performance indicators, annual staff policy plan, financial resources, corporate risk register, procurement plan, organisational chart and the Work Programme for the Observatory.

WORK PROGRAMME 2017


WORK PROGRAMME 2017

EXECUTION OF THE STRATEGIC PLAN IN 2017

Line of Action 1: Build a dynamic and knowledgeable organisation

Talent Capital Programme

The Talent Capital programme, which combines a number of strategic projects continuing the process of HR reform, is a key element in the Office’s drive to become an organisation of excellence. Achieving excellence requires, among other things, recruiting and retaining the best talent, fostering staff potential and talent through continuous professional development, and creating the right organisational structures providing an optimal work environment for staff to perform at their best.

The Office will continue to implement a full range of targeted actions aimed at maximising staff awareness of, and engagement with, the Strategic Plan 2020 projects, to ensure that all staff members understand and feel included in the strategic direction and aims of the Office, at individual and at team level. Close attention will be given to the internal communications tools the Office currently employs to disseminate information. In particular, the existing Office intranet system will be assessed and modified to ensure it fully meets staff information needs. Internal Communication will continue to support staff awareness of the legislative reform process and its effects.

Staff training will be enhanced by offering more learning content in a digital format in the Learning Portal, as well with the implementation of Academy Calendar/Catalogue, giving information on the Office activities in a clear and transparent way in order to maximise the use of Office services and boost staff development.

Online content will be added to the Office’s Knowledge Corner to promote better quality and timelier decision-making. The operational effectiveness of the Office’s document management system, ShareDox, will be increased with the promotion of the use of the Public Register workflow. In addition, the Document Management Officers (DMO) will be further empowered to ensure legal compliance and the correct usage of content within the system. For example, a structured process will be set up for the DMOs to record the checks carried out in the system.


SP2020 projects under Talent Capital to be developed in 2017: Talent Management: 360 Feedback

The 360-degree project will play an important role in talent management by extending the feedback available from a number of sources, typically peers/colleagues, direct reports, line managers and others if applicable. The implementation of such a tool seems advisable after analysing the results of the 2016 staff satisfaction survey.

Talent Management: IP Competition

The Office continues to believe that competitions organised in collaboration with EPSO should be the preferred route to permanent positions as Officials in the Office. The reserve lists resulting from the competitions will help the Office cope with the growth of volume in filings and manage the departure of staff due to retirement, invalidity or other reasons over the period 2017-2019.

Knowledge Repository – Next Generation

The Knowledge Repository Next Generation project will improve the usage of ShareDox, in particular as a consequence of the Audit of Content analysis, whereby policies and new best practices will be modified, approved and put into action.

e-Library Portal

The aim of this project is to offer a portal with a seamless and powerful search facility, giving the staff search results and access to results in Sharedox, the library administrative system, and the Learning Portal.

Working Environment Programme

The Office will maximise the efficiency of its facilities and services, minimise the environmental impact of its operations, and provide staff with good working conditions.

Development projects include improving the technical installations of the main data processing centre; restoring walls and ceilings in the central kitchen; installing a public address system on the ground floor of the main building; CCTV surveillance and intercommunication in the lifts of the main building; and improving the efficiency of the air conditioning systems.

WORK PROGRAMME 2017


Support services will be improved with regard to hospitality, general logistics and security/safety. Security activities will include coordination with EU, State and local intelligence and police authorities, surveillance of the premises, access control, and maintenance and operation of security equipment. Safety will be managed according to the standard OSHAS 18001, focusing on including physical safety, ergonomics, health and hygiene was well as the compliance to safety requirements by external contractors.

SP2020 projects under working environment to be developed in 2017:

Construction of a New Building

The EUIPO’s campus will be unified by including the stretch of road situated between the existing two plots, once it is purchased from the Municipality. This will require the construction of a fence surrounding the campus; a new roundabout to allow for two-way traffic in the part of the street not owned by the Office; and the integration of part of the road within the campus design. The regeneration of the municipal gardens surrounding the EUIPO’s headquarters will also be completed, including a connection with the Office’s campus by means of a footbridge.

The construction of the new building will be completed including full urbanisation of the plot, gardens, sports fields and a large open-air events area. Security, ICT and audio-visual equipment will be installed, and the building will be fully tested and commissioned. The interconnections of the three buildings will also be constructed, including a tunnel to link its underground garage with the one of the existing buildings.

Refurbishment of the Buildings

New warehouses will be created in the basement (-3) from the conversion of the former Data Centre of the EUIPO and the release of the area made available by the relocation of the administrative archives outside the Office’s premises. This will allow the existing storage areas in (-2) to be refurbished as project spaces, where interdepartmental teams can work together on specific projects. If a part of this area is not used for projects, it can be used also to house additional workplaces.

Increasing the Security Levels

A security network involving all relevant stakeholders of the Office will be introduced, and procedures will be implemented to integrate evolving threat levels, with adequate restrictions and proportional protection measures. An automated staff counting system will be deployed, ensuring maximum certainty that all premises are completely evacuated in case of need. In


addition, the five concentric rings concept will start being implemented in the new building. In addition, the new model for transport and remote storage of confidential back-up information will be fully integrated in the current activities.

The training of security guards in the use of the new security equipment, and on the protocols required to face the rapidly evolving threats, is expected to be completed before end of the year. In addition, an assessment of staff security awareness will be conducted and will be followed up with corresponding campaigns and conferences.

Reduction of EUIPO’s Environmental Impact

The EMAS environmental management system will be extended to all buildings. An action plan aiming at the reduction of water consumption and waste generation will be implemented in the first half of the year. In addition, a training module will be developed and integrated in the Office’s e-learning portal, in order to increase staff environmental awareness. Following the energy audit conducted in 2016 an energy management system will be implemented. This will include the definition of the energy baselines, energy performance indicators, an action plan to improve Office-wide energy efficiency, and the revision of the targets initially established in the project.

The monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions will continue with the calculation of the Office’s ‘carbon footprint’ for the previous year and its full offsetting. An action plan for carbon footprint reduction will be drafted with reference documents supplied to the various departments involved. The implementation of green public procurement and operation processes will include the analysis of the pilot project conducted previously in the Office, a gap assessment as regards procurement in departments, and a benchmarking exercise to collect the experience of similar agencies in this area.

Line of Action 2: Increase transparency and accountability

As a public organisation it is essential that the Office strives to be sustainable for users of the IP system, citizens and businesses across Europe. Sustainability relates not only to the products and services provided, but also to the people, policies and strategies that underpin them.

The ISO 9001 certification of the Quality Management System (QMS) together with the other certificates in information security, occupational health and safety, environment and universal accessibility contribute to the continual improvement within the Office, and the sharing of knowledge. The Office will continue with the integration of management systems and processes, including training and awareness activities, with the aim of aligning all the external audits.

WORK PROGRAMME 2017


The Office’s performance management tools will be further consolidated in order to ensure that the objectives and key performance indicators are clearly defined. This will enable top management to monitor progress and take the necessary action to tackle deviations. The internal and external communication of these performance tools will be fostered in order to increase transparency and ensure that they are both understood and owned by management and staff alike.

The corporate layer of the Office Enterprise Risk Management system will be reinforced, further simplifying the effort required to maintain the system, and continuing with the integration of the different operational layers. The management of risks related to projects and programmes of the SP2020 will be strengthened in order to contribute to a more efficient use of resources. This will assist in the implementation of a risk-based approach to certain Office processes, and contribute to an effective oversight of fraud related risks for the Office and its users.

Internal Audit

The mission of Internal Audit is to enhance and protect organisational value by providing risk-based and objective assurance, advice, and insight. The Office will carry out the audit engagements specified in the 2017 Audit Plan and follow up on previous audits. The Audit Plan will be based on a ‘risk and request’ analysis that will take into account the Corporate Risk Register, requests from departments, and professional judgment. ISO 27001 internal audits will be included in the plan to maintain the Office’s certification in information security management. In addition, specific audits will be planned to cover all 16 Internal Control Standards in a four year cycle. Internal Audit will continue to oversee the functioning of the Office’s Anti-Fraud Strategy and will provide internal audit services to the Community Plant Variety Office and the Single Resolution Board. Furthermore, Internal Audit will attend, as an observer, the meetings of the Information Security Forum and the European Cooperation Service Risk Management Group.

Data Protection Office

The DPO team will continue to have a special focus on training and raising staff awareness with regard to data protection. In 2017, the priorities will be: improving the cohesion and alignment of practices; and continuous training of the Data Protection Coordinators (DPCs) in each Department. Two training sessions are planned during the periodic network meetings with the goal of gradually making DPCs fully functional and independent in their duties, especially in view of the application of the amendment of Regulation 45/2001.


The DPO will also organise additional training sessions open to all staff in order to raise awareness of staff of Data Protection issues (the privacy and personal data protection rights and the obligations of the staff). Special emphasis will be placed on the amendment of the DP Regulation 45/2001 and the changes that this imposes.

As part of the awareness strategy, the DPO team will complete the updating of the DPO Corner on the Office’s website. This initiative will provide answers to the main questions employees of the EUIPO may have as ‘data subjects’. It will also give access to the documentation and forms useful for the handling of personal data. The goal is to ensure that privacy and personal data protection are taken into consideration at every level in the “daily life” of the Office and at the beginning of each of its projects and activities.

SP2020 projects to be developed in 2017:

Corporate Sustainability Framework

The Office will publish its first Corporate Sustainability Report based on the Framework that the project delivered in 2016. The report will be aligned with international standards of sustainability to demonstrate to stakeholders and citizens the value that the EUIPO brings to Europe. The report is the final deliverable in the Corporate Sustainability Framework project and marks the first significant step towards the EUIPO being a truly sustainable organisation.

ISO 9001:2015

The Office achieved ISO 9001 certification for all its activities in 2013. This certification contributes to the continual improvement of processes, ensuring increased efficiency and effectiveness. Certification according to the new ISO 9001:2015 standard entails improved focus on stakeholder needs and the consolidation of a risk-based approach Office-wide. This involves working closely with stakeholders in order to increase their perception of the Office’s quality of products and services and improve them with the input from users. The integration of management systems and simplification of processes will be improved by conducting all external audits at the same time, rather than spreading them throughout the year.

Transparency Portal

The Office will create a transparency portal on its website, which will gather relevant documents and information sources, including organisational and legal information, reports, statistical information and our statutory document Register, and display them in a user-friendly and accessible way.

WORK PROGRAMME 2017


Financial management

The implementation of a fully-aligned planning process and the Activity Based Budget model will establish a clear connection between the objectives, activities and the respective consumption of resources. This will enable a clearer and transparent decision-making process driven by efficiency, while at the same time increasing the quantity and quality of financial information.

In this respect, the Offices’ controller will have an important role in monitoring the financial consumption of the activities, providing management with accurate, timely and reliable information in order to promote rapid responses to a changing environment.

The new procurement framework will enhance accuracy, efficiency, transparency and accountability through a more pro-active planning process that is closely monitored and linked to the consumption of markets and evolution of contracts. This framework includes clear guidelines for specific problem areas, improved reporting and management escalation, as well as re-enforced further training for all financial actors.

Concentration of vendor management within a single service will help optimise overall expenditure and reduce risks by providing efficient and effective governance of the Office’s suppliers. This will also allow additional services to be offered to special EU funded projects as well as participation in finance related actions of ECP5 (Supporting the Network), most importantly in the network of financial actors of the National Offices. The enhanced External Resources Management System (ERMS) will provide up-to-date information on technical and financial performance and the execution of framework/direct contracts. Based on vendor categorisation, the ERMS framework is set up to enforce the management of the strategically important vendors and related framework contracts and lessen the administrative requirements for the others.

The focus of the Verification Teams will be adjusted to include a more risk-based approach, resulting in an additional level of control in the form of a new ex post verification strategy. This will depend on the nature of the transaction and the associated risk level that it contains. Guidelines will also be drawn up to assist the operational units in sound financial management. The teams will continue to actively participate in strengthening the prevention and detection of fraud in cooperation with other units of the Office, in particular Internal Audit.

A call for tender of the Office’s operational banks will be implemented. There will also be further efforts to increase the use of e-invoicing and to consolidate the outsourcing of the key-in of invoices. All issues related to the implementation of the Office’s Financial Regulation, will be


finalised, such as fine-tuning of the Annual Accounts and the Consolidated Annual Activity Report, which has been integrated in the Annual Report.

Key performance indicators related to budget accuracy and product costs, call for tender procedure timeliness, number and volumes of market extensions, payment timeliness, Register of Exceptions and observations made by the ECA will be closely monitored. This will create awareness and guide the learning and improvement process of the financial actors of the Office.

The implementation of the Enterprise Resources Planning tool will streamline and support the budget planning and the monitoring of its consumption, and help the alignment in the resources planning process. The handover of the Office’s leadership in the EU-Agency network, the upcoming review of the General Financial Regulation and the Shared Services project will be another important aspect of work.

SP2020 projects under Financial Management to be developed in 2017:

The Office will continue the implementation of modules of the European Commission’s e-Prior system in order to strengthen financial management. E-Ordering will be implemented to provide an electronic interface for the EUIPO and their economic operators to establish service contracts. In addition, the previous implementation of e-Submission for open tender procedures will be built on by extending this to negotiated and restricted procedures once the new version of the tool is made available. Moreover, diverse IT tools and processes will be developed, in parallel with the conclusion of the outsourcing of a part of the Fees Management, to enhance the efficiency gains related to this part of the IP processes.

Implementation of e-Ordering

At Department level, e-Ordering will help improve the relationship with external stakeholders. It will also strengthen the financial management of the Office and optimise vendor management processes via the provision of real time monitoring of purchasing operations, reducing administrative activities (such as e-mails, letters, correspondence and mails, paper based contract signature) and by creating a centralised on-demand up-to-date information and reporting solution. Savings will result from the faster creation of legal commitments (mailing and signing contracts or purchase orders). The tool will be available throughout the Office for the implementation of any kind of service contract with non-institutional service providers. Service providers will benefit from similar savings. By the end of 2017 the project will result in an automated, paperless, faster, more reliable and secure way of signing specific contracts of outsourced services between the Office and those suppliers.

WORK PROGRAMME 2017


Implementation of e-Procurement

The target of 100 % usage of e-Submission for open tender procedures will be extended to negotiated and restricted procedures once the new version is made available by the European Commission. Accuracy and efficiency in financial operations for the Office is reached through printer handling and paper savings, the simplification of procedures for opening sessions and timeliness improvements. Economic operators will take advantage of the integrated functionalities of the e-Prior platform to access tender documents via the linked e-Tendering module. This will help them to prepare their tenders in a structured way and submit them securely through e-Submission, thereby ensuring improved integrity, confidentiality and authenticity of tenders.

Fees Payment and Fees Management

The increased use of Current Accounts and decrease in use of bank transfers will lead to efficiency gains as the internal management costs for bank transfers are considerably higher than with other payment methods. Current Accounts also offer specific advantages to applicants. Increased use of this option will be achieved through the promotion and monitoring of accounts, providing an online solution for opening, closing, managing and replenishing Current Accounts, including by credit card payment. After filing, the user will be provided with a downloadable file for further integration in their processes. Further efficiency gains will be reached by enlarging the payment platform to all e-services, starting with e-opposition services, implementing an e-reimbursement service and enhancing the use of payment codes in bank transfers.

Line of Action 3: Foster an effective and secure digital environment

The Office will continue the process of simplification and modernisation of its IT systems, building on the progress made during recent years, in order to make them more efficient and user-friendly. The availability of systems will remain at the heart of operations, while ensuring that investments remain cost-effective and sustainable in the long term.

Many of the improvements will come from the recently launched projects in the SP2020, but other operational improvements to the Enforcement Database, TMview and DesignView, will result in more robust architectures, that will future-proof those tools, reducing their IT maintenance costs. Usability of the EUIPO website will continuously be improved to make information more accessible for all types of users. The Office will look into ways to help European SME’s and Start-Ups to use their IP intangible assets in a more effective manner.


SP2020 projects under IP Tool to be developed in 2017:

IP Tool Programme

Under the IP Tool programme, the Office aims to integrate several systems that currently exist as separate modules into one single tool. The vision is to have a Back Office supported by IT tools as the backbone of a fully-fledged e-organisation. This would also bring with it improvements in flexibility. The ultimate aim is to have one integrated platform to support all IP processes in the Office.

The remaining recordals in the EUTM and RCD registers will be added to the IP Tool, allowing all modifications to trade marks and designs to be handled in an efficient and userfriendly way. In parallel, the Office will analyse the functionality needed for a more advanced digital Register capable of showing the legal situation of a registered IP Right at any point in time, including historic data and versioning, with a view to developing this solution in 2018. The Office will also study how to make the new Register more easily accessible, and propose how to disseminate and publish its contents in a digital world.

IP ART Programme

The inter partes project covers the proceedings of Opposition, Cancellation and Invalidity, which are all characterised by a three-sided relationship between the parties and the Office administering the proceedings. New e-filing tools will be developed and made available for Cancellations and Invalidities, which do not currently have an e-filing form available. Within the current Back Office, the Cancellation of trade marks (Invalidity and Revocation) is managed via a legacy system and the processing of Invalidity requests for designs does not have any specific IT management tool. These features will be supported by the IP Tool and this work will serve as a basis for including Oppositions into the same tool at a later date.

Given the complexity of examination processes the Office has divided the ex-ante project into separate projects for trade marks and designs. The analysis phase of the trade mark project will be completed with implementation to follow in 2018. The analysis phase for the design project will take place in parallel. The objectives of “OD Balanced Performance” project will be pursued in the scope of the IP Tool Programme.

IP Tool BOA and Litigation Programme

Under the e-Appeal project, the Office will replace the generic eCommunication submission of an appeal before the Boards of Appeal, with a new dedicated tool designed to reduce errors,

WORK PROGRAMME 2017


and therefore contribute to a faster and leaner process. A project proposal for the Back office for the Boards of Appeal and the litigation team under the IP Tool will be filed before the end of the year.

SP2020 projects under EUIPO Digital Systems to be developed in 2017:

Business Analytics and Big Data Platform

The EUIPO is facing increasing volumes of complex data with users demanding quick access and easy to understand reporting. The Office will set up a big-data platform in order to address some of the most pressing needs. This experience will be used for learning purposes and ultimately to bring the platform into general use within the organisation.

Cloud Strategy

A Cloud Strategy will represent a shift in the way that the EUIPO provides IT services. By leveraging shared infrastructure, standardisation of services, self-service and automatic provisioning, less time will be spent managing complex IT resources. The Office intends to take advantage of the opportunities offered by cloud computing with a very cautious approach and respecting European legal and data protection issues as well as security matters.

Enterprise Resources Planning

The Office will improve the implementation of multi-annual and annual planning, providing more transparency and stakeholder engagement throughout the process. The Enterprise Resources Planning project will increase the quality and reliability of the information in budget preparation and control and improve the financial accuracy of projects and activities. This improved approach will already be in place for the preparation and execution of the 2018 budget. Within the HR area, new solutions for managing travel and certain types of personal records will increase the automation and self-service functions.

Increase IT Security

The Office will improve access control to information assets, ensuring that data integrity is respected, and enhance the IT infrastructure to cope with the new threats. A proactive approach towards cyber intelligence, including active staff interaction within the Office, will be used to guarantee coordination, training and communication on IT security matters.


Line of Action 4: Intensify network engagement

European Cooperation

The new European Cooperation projects were launched in 2016, based on the scope definition approved by the Management Board. The consolidation and completion of Cooperation Fund (CF) tool implementations will be continued where interest has been expressed by IP offices. Major improvements to existing CF tools will also be defined in relation to ‘back’ and ‘front’ office tools, the Network’s gateway and in the area of quality, and improvements to TMview and DesignView will be defined.

New tools and solutions will be developed, including searching figurative trade marks and designs, an IP user repository or an Integrated Multiple Assessment Solution. Working groups will be established to this end.

The EUIPN Operation Centre, responsible for maintaining the network common tools and databases, will in particular focus on image search technologies, further exploring synergies in databases such as mapping the tariff code with the harmonised database, and deepening the collaboration with Eurid in the interest of IP and domain name users. A first phase of the open data platform will be launched to provide free access to EUTM and RCD-related data. It is also foreseen that the maintenance of tools and databases resulting from the Observatory projects such as ACIST, ACRIS and the Orphan Works Database will be taken over.

SP2020 Projects under European Cooperation to be developed in 2017:

ECP1 Consolidating and Completing the CF landscape

The Office will continue to support further implementations of the tools developed in the CF, in order to ensure that the benefits of these tools are fully realised, in the interests of both IP Offices and users.

ECP2 Major Improvements to Existing CF Tools

The first wave of mayor improvements for the following CF existing tools: TMview, DesignView, Back Office, Front Office and Common Gateway will be launched.

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ECP3 New Tools

The first package of e-learning courses will be agreed in the Working Group and developed in 2017. Preliminary analysis will be started for an IP user repository and Search Image for trade marks.

ECP4 Shared Services and Practices

The EU Cooperation Platform will be fully operational to support the management of the related cooperation agreements with EU IP offices in the new European Cooperation projects in line with Article 123c EUTMR, as well as to improve overall budget execution in this context. Based on the experience gained through the Convergence Programme, a Convergence Analysis project will be launched in order to map the need for further convergence in examination practices in the fields of trade marks and designs and new projects launched. Following this analysis, a first package of two convergence projects will be launched in January and a second package is expected to be launched in June. A Collaborative Network will be promoted to involve IPOs in those parts of the EUTM examination process where they can add special value.

ECP5 Supporting the Network

The European Union Trade Mark and Design Network will continue to be supported in various manners, including the deployment of project management and development experts in offices, so as to contribute to the launch and development of the new projects. Work in the fields of data capturing and in quality certification in IP offices will be supported.

Learning activities on IPR Awareness EU cooperation

The aim of this project is to increase the number of cooperation agreements with non-IP programmes to ensure a wider sphere of influence of the Pan-European Seal programme and increasing IP awareness among Academia. Under this project, means will be explored of widening the Pan-European Seal Exchange Programme to offer further exchange possibilities to the trainees beyond the EUIPO traineeship period.

EU Agencies Network

The EU Agencies Network is a platform set up by the Heads of the European Agencies to improve coordination, exchange information and agree on positions on issues of shared interest across EU Agencies. The EUIPO has chaired the Network since March 2016, with


responsibility for coordinating its recurrent activities. In March 2017, EUIPO will hand over the chairmanship to the European Food Safety Authority but will remain in the Troika of the Network until February 2018. As such, EUIPO will continue to be closely involved in the activities of the Network including participation in meetings with the EU institutions.

International Cooperation

The Office takes over the secretariat of the TM&ID5 fora (KIPO, USPTO, JPO, SAIC and EUIPO) so will be responsible for the organisation in 2017. A mid-term meeting will take place during the INTA annual meeting, and bilateral meetings with the partners will also be arranged if necessary. The Annual Meeting with TM/ID5 partners will take place in Europe. Every year, under the TM5 forum, a Classification Expert meeting will be organised. As in previous years, this meeting is likely to take place in China.

The Office will continue to intensify cooperation activities with the EPO and WIPO. Several events, jointly organised with the EPO will continue, such as the ‘IP Executive Week’ and the implementation of the Pan-European Seal project. As well as participating in Liaison Meetings, WIPO will be further engagement in ECP projects and the CP7 project. Close coordination will be maintained on the statistics of International Registration (IR) of trade marks and designs and the provision of updates of Madrid and Hague IR data. Bilateral meetings to discuss cooperation will be organised during these scheduled interchanges. The Office will also act as the implementation agency for EU-funded projects in the ASEAN countries, China, India, and Latin America.

In parallel, the Office will continue to support non-EU cooperation at all levels, providing promotion and communication support for planned expansions of the flagship tools (TMview, TMclass and DesignView) to candidate, association and third countries, and will work with existing and future EU-funded projects in the context of a global communication strategy for all activities. Particular emphasis will be placed on supporting the EU-funded projects in the front end delivery of a fully integrated online portal solution for the different project strands, in conjunction with the Office’s information technology services. Training and best practice exchange with communication professionals in non-EU IP offices, which began in 2016, will continue in 2017 via a seminar series jointly organised between the Office and the European Patent Office (EPO).

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SP2020 Projects under International Cooperation to be developed in 2017:

Extension of Tools and Support to Observatory in non-EU

The Office plans 20 extensions of flagship tools beyond the EU with the first implementations to take place in 2017. This project includes extending DesignClass to countries like Mexico, Brazil, China, Russia; TMview in OAPI; DesignView in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and India. A second priority will be the extension of several existing tools of the Network in those IP Offices already integrated into TMview, DesignView, TMclass and DesignClass. This covers tools such as Similarity, CESTO, Common Quality Standards, User Satisfaction Survey and other EUIPN tools and practices. This work will be carried out always on the basis of interest to implement and where possible under the framework of EU-funded projects.

Two implementations of the Observatory tools (ACRIS, ACIST and Orphan Works database) are planned to start within the priority countries indicated by DG Trade - China, Argentina, Russia, Brazil, and USA. The detailed planning will depend on the level of interest expressed within these countries and the progress of subsequent negotiations.

Line of Action 5: Enhance customer-driven quality services

The Office has seen a significant increase in workload in trade marks and designs over the last three years and expects the recent trend for double digit growth for EUTMs to continue. To cope with this growth and ensure that the objectives set in the Office Service Charter are met both in terms of increased timeliness and quality the Office has adopted a flexible team working structure in IP operations.

Another dimension of the Office’s drive towards higher quality will be to help users improve the quality of their applications, thereby reducing deficiencies. This can be done by increasing the clarity of the rules, thus benefiting predictability.

In particular, action will be taken to improve the tools and information available, spreading the impact of initiatives such as the Key Users Programme and in general increasing the number of ‘straight-through’ files by encouraging the use of the Harmonised Database of goods and services and of Fast Track services. The online tools and learning opportunities offered by the Academy will be promoted through the website, multimedia and social media in order to reach as wide an audience as possible.

The Office will also seek increased resolution of problems in the first line as well as higher accessibility of examiners via the call back initiative and an optimised management of interactions. An immediate feedback system will be introduced in addition to the yearly user satisfaction


survey. The quality of multilingual communication will be further improved, particularly ensuring the consistency of translations for EU official languages. This will be achieved by making use of state-of-the-art technologies and applying best practices in cooperation with the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union.

In fees management, the focus will be on avoiding the risk of deficient filings. There will also be further promotion of the use of Current Accounts, and of e-payment with the goal of making the interactions and transactions with IP users, to the extent possible, completely paperless.

The creation of a single set of Guidelines for the Office practice, which is regularly updated with input from the IP Offices of the EU and User Associations, has been a major step forward in terms of quality. In parallel the Office has progressed from having only five ex post quality checks to monitoring all business and support operations. To reinforce this aspect, the Office is now moving towards greater user involvement in ex post quality checks and has introduced a detailed process of ex ante checks.

The high quality defence of Office decisions and practice before the Courts will continue to be a priority, in particular through promoting a structured working relationship with the Boards of Appeal, sharing knowledge, and maintaining the high level of confirmation of cases that go before the General Court. Assistance will also be provided to the European Commission in Preliminary Rulings. In addition, important case-law will be signalled to the Knowledge Circles, the Office as a whole and to IP offices and users through convergence events or training courses.

The timeliness targets for Fast Track indicators for trade marks and designs, as well as the Finance Indicator will be enhanced to take into account 100 % of cases (currently 99 % and 97 %). Other timeliness indicators will be calculated based on 99 % of cases, except Appeals, where the current 90 % and 75 % of cases is maintained. The Office considers quality its top priority for all stakeholders. To achieve this objective of excellence, additional Quality indicators have been added, and all targets have been made more demanding, in order to bolster the wide-reaching ambitions expressed by Management.

SP2020 projects under Product Quality to be developed in 2017:

Ex Ante Product Quality Audits (Trade Marks and Designs)

The software specification will be created for the implementation of ex ante audits in the back office tool within the areas of RCD examination and recordals. New Ex Ante Quality Working Instructions will have to be created for each of the areas where the checks will be implemented.

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This will be accompanied by the training of examiners and a user acceptance test. If necessary, new ex ante audits will be manually implemented, depending on the results obtained from the ex post checks in any areas where the ex-ante implementation within the back office tool requires further modification.

Stakeholders Quality Assurance Panels (SQAP)

External stakeholders (User Associations) will be involved in ex post quality check audits to give general feedback on both the quality of decisions and the quality criteria the office is applying.

New Generation Guidelines

The current structure, format and content of the Guidelines will be reviewed, after consultation, to make sure that they serve the needs of the different publics they address.The consultation process will be re-modelled in order to make it more open, agile, userfriendlyand inclusive. The project will also improve the integration of the Guidelines as the centre of the Office’s IP practice in all existing and future products and tools.

SP2020 projects under Service Quality to be developed in 2017:

Maximise HDB Usage

This project will allow users to manage and reuse their lists within the Harmonised Database, raise awareness of the latest changes in the tool and promote the Fast Track. It will also allow users to propose terms that will then be included in the monthly term revision. The idea is to provide the same functionalities of the builder in the G&S section of the advanced e-filing form.

Multilingual Communication Management

Computer Aided Translation will be implemented in the revision and proofreading tasks for administrative translations. Centralised translation memories and terminology databases for multilingual business communications will also be built. An automatic translation service will be implemented for the eSearch Case-Law database.

Sustainable Customer Services

This project will deliver a set of new tools and improve sections on the website in order to empower users. The goal is to provide information in a pro-active and user-friendly manner in order to promote self-service where possible while still providing special attention when necessary.


Initiatives will include revamp FAQs, redesigning the Help Centre, the possibility within eSearch to ”Schedule a call” (pilot with First Line), the introduction of a marketing approach to possible future templates. Within the User Area, positive alerts will be made available for the main milestones of the IP rights life cycle.

Key User Programme

The Office will build on the success of the Key User Programme to enhance the use of electronic filing and communication, increase the number of straight through files by reducing the level of deficiencies, and introduce a more streamlined approach for the management of payment. The objectives will be reached via a package of measures including personalised guidance, the development of new training opportunities for paralegals and tailor-made engagement using video conferencing. SP2020 projects under E3U: Efficient examination and users’ empowerment:

The E3U Programme has a vision of providing functional, reliable and stable tools to improve quality by increasing predictability, consistency and efficiency, supporting straightthrough filings and examination. A modular approach will be adopted with separate user interfaces for both external users and examiners collecting all available tools in order to provide, as far as possible, complete and accurate information.

Line of Action 6: Strengthen the Intellectual Property system

Observatory Programme1

The Observatory is made up of a network of public and private sector representatives, who collaborate in five working groups - Public Awareness, Enforcement, Legal and International, IP in the Digital World, Statistics and Economics.

Public Awareness

On the basis of the results of the SME Scoreboard, specific follow-up actions or tools will be explored, notably to address information needs and IP diagnosis support of SMEs, in collaboration with the European Commission.

Following the IP in Education study, the Observatory is creating a specialised IP Education Network made up of representatives of the Ministries of Education and specialised stakeholders with the aim of jointly developing appropriate resources and tools to facilitate IP education and

1 - Details of the Observatory’s

activities are subject of the Appendix 9 – Observatory Work

Programme.

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awareness. The network is of a voluntary and informal nature and its first meeting was held in March 2016 in Alicante. To follow up on input received from the network, a dedicated project has been created to develop good practices which could serve as examples for education ministries that wish to embed IP in different learning areas of current or new school curricula or new school curricula as well as new, modern, “fresh” material by involving both teachers and students.

Enforcement

Work will start to enable right holders to renew their Application for Actions through the Enforcement Database (EDB) and better support the work of enforcement authorities by improving alerts. A pilot will be run to assist enforcers to scan bar codes and access information concerning the goods and associated IP rights from mobile devices. The interoperability with WCO’s IPM system will be completed and efforts will be made to continue enlarging the number of police forces using the tool.

The Office will continue financing the activities of the Europol IP Crime Coordination Centre, on the basis of the current grand of EUR 500 000, meant to increase information gathering and monitor trends in the field of online IP crime and related areas.

The European Commission has requested the collaboration of the Observatory in an analysis of the implementation at Member State level of the controls foreseen by the Geographical Indications regulations. The analysis, which will also look at best practices that would help controllers to better work together across the EU, was started in 2016 and should be published during the course of the year.

Legal and International

One of the main tasks entrusted to the Office is to improve knowledge on IP rights infringements in Member States. As a continuation of the work already carried out, the Office will collect relevant jurisprudence related to enforcement of IP rights rendered at national level in the EU Member States. Whenever possible, the activity will be implemented in collaboration with the national and regional IP offices.

This will be an important year for the implementation of the ‘Anti-counterfeiting Rapid Intelligence System (ACRIS)’. This tool should not only be used by Enforcement Database users, but also associations and other actors helping right holders to enforce their rights abroad. The extent to which the information in the database can provide statistically meaningful results depends on the degree of utilisation of the tool by companies but also particularly by DG


TRADE as a main source of information for their work.

The Office will continue to cooperate with DG TRADE to consolidate the network of IP experts in EU Delegations created in 2014, mainly by providing technical support to improve IP knowledge and exchange of information among its members.

IP in the Digital World

Following the 2016 study on infringing business models, the Observatory will create a tool to help enforcement authorities and right holders identify, dissect, analyse and describe business models (existing or new) with which they are faced.

Economics and Statistics

Further sectorial studies examining the economic impact of IP infringements will be published, in particular a study of counterfeit smartphones, in collaboration with the International Telecommunications Union.

Research on the valuation of trade marks will help develop a methodology for valuing a company’s stock of trade marks and other IPRs by constructing an econometric model based on the business’s observable characteristics. Using the data from the IP Contribution study, this methodology would complement the Commission’s earlier efforts in the context of the Expert Group on Intellectual Property Valuation of IP carried out in 2013 and 2014. This is especially relevant for SMEs since the surveys of brand values published periodically by consulting firms tend to focus exclusively on large, global brands.

Major events

The Observatory will continue to organise events to ensure that policymakers, enforcers and other relevant stakeholders are fully aware of relevant issues surrounding IP. The main events planned include two seminars organised jointly with Europol and Eurojust: one to be held during the spring and one to be held during the autumn; three judges’ seminars and a judges’ symposium; a prosecutor’s network event organised jointly with Eurojust; two regional enforcement seminars, and one regional judges’ seminar; a high level conference on enforcement (sharing and tools) organised in cooperation with DG HOME and CEPOL; an international IP summit; and an EDB Forum.

Work will continue on effectively communicating the reports and research published by the Observatory. These reports have achieved wide media coverage across the EU and helped raise awareness of the importance of IP among new and important audiences.

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SP2020 projects under Support Intellectual Property system to be developed in 2017:

Certified training for IP professionals (CERTIP)

This project aims at creating certified training on trade marks and designs for IP Professionals. No European qualification for trade mark and design professionals currently exists and therefore professional representatives before the Office rely on national qualifications. This project aims at helping to improve the support given by IP Professionals to EU businesses and thereby ensure the better functioning of the trade mark and design registration systems managed by the Office.

EUIPO Virtual IP Training Centre

The Office will work with CEPOL, the European Commission (DG TAXUD, OLAF, DG HOME) and other EU agencies (Europol and Eurojust) to continue the creation of the Virtual IP Training Centre for enforcement authorities. The Centre is an online platform which will grant EU enforcers (police, customs, market inspectors, etc.) with unparalleled access to comprehensive training covering IP rights, their infringement and enforcement, as well as to other relevant material and information such as the Observatory studies quantifying the impact of IP infringements.

Orphan Works Deployment

Use of the Orphan Works database will be promoted and its functionalities will be improvedthrough additional releases including provision for bulk uploads by beneficiary organisations.

e-Learning Portal – Next Generation

Improvements to the Learning Portal will focus on quality enhancement. An increase of elearning products with certificate will demonstrate that the learner has effectively acquired the knowledge provided in the training. The amount of tailor-made and adapted learning content will be expanded to meet the needs and expectations of the Academy’s audiences and stakeholders (EUIPO staff, national and regional IP offices, UAs, universities, paralegals, SMEs).

The content of the Learning Portal will be further aligned and updated to reflect the changes in the legal landscape resulting from the new Implementing Regulation. This will ensure that the Portal continues to be a reliable source of knowledge for IP issues such as the latest changes to the office Guidelines or other recent developments in trade mark and design law. The


implementation of an improved navigation structure will allow quick and easy access to the Portal’s learning products, helping users to find the material available to match their learning needs in accordance with their level of expertise.

DesignEuropa Awards

Following the inaugural edition of the DesignEuropa Awards planned for November 2016, a full 360 degree assessment will be carried out and preparations will begin for the 2018 awards. DesignEuropa, which is initially planned to run every two years, is aimed at raising awareness of the Registered Community Design system, while simultaneously recognising the innovation, creativity and IP management excellence of the users of the system.

Change of Name – Corporate Identity

All aspects of the Change of Name project will be rolled out. The project includes a robust corporate identity strategy so that the Office’s identify is projected in a clear, consistent and predictable way. An awareness campaign on fraudulent payments and the corporate identity management framework will be implemented.

SP2020 projects under Legislative Reform to be developed in 2017:

Office Implementation

The Office Implementation project focuses on ensuring compliance with the new legal framework stemming from the EUTMR and the set of secondary legislation (Implementing and Delegated Acts) that will enter into force on 1 October 2017. The key activities are: (i) Identification & Analysis of changes (ii) Definition of Practice (iii) Change in documents (iv) Updating & Creating IT System(s) (v) Communication actions (vi) Preparing training materials & Sessions.

Update of Guidelines

The Update of Guidelines project will ensure that the Guidelines are fully in line with the new legal provisions as a result of the changes stemming from Regulation 2015/2424 that enters into force on 1 October 2017, as well as the corresponding secondary legislation, and including the Decisions of EUIPO’s Executive Director and the new codification of the upcoming legal texts. This project includes seeking and integrating the comments of NOs, UAs, and ensuring proper consultation of the members of the Management Board.

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Implementing and Delegated Acts

The objective of the Implementing and Delegated Acts project is to provide technical support to the European Commission in the preparation of secondary legislation that will follow the new basic Regulation to the extent it requests it; maximise the practical benefits of the reform, in particular as regards the streamlining of proceedings; and provide users with simple, accessible and straightforward trade mark registration procedures. Activities include the preparation of a final report, including a ‘Benefits and Follow-up actions’ table and any other technical assistance required by the Commission.

Mediation Centre at EUIPO: Impact Analysis

This impact analysis is designed to evaluate the feasibility of creating a Mediation Centre at the EUIPO. It will explore the added value of alternative dispute resolution both from a user and operational perspective. Key elements of the study will include an analysis of the legal framework and the European strategies. It will also cover benchmarking with other organisations in the European and Intellectual Property context. A survey of the main stakeholders will be conducted to get a better understanding of users’ needs and expectations. Technical options for online mediation solutions as well as the financial and human resources required will also be analysed.

Support the Transposition of the Directive

This project aims at providing legal and technical support to IP offices to transpose the Trade Mark Directive and implement the resulting national law. In particular: (1) Provide standard texts; (2) Identify and carry out pre-legislative convergence; (3) Identify MS needs as regards (a) additional convergence, (b) tools, and (c) further support, all in the context of ECP 1-5. In this regard, and as noted in the approved SP2020, the Office will do at all times respecting the different competencies and responsibilities of the European Commission and Member States. In particular, the assistance shall be purely technical and it is the Commission’s responsibility to verify the legal transposition of the Directive.


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APPENDIX 1. KEY ASSUMPTIONS ON VOLUMES

EUTM-related assumptions

The Office expects to receive a total of 158 622 EUTM applications — 132 309 direct and 26313 through WIPO.

International Applications filed at the Office are expected to reach 8 000 filings.

Use of e-filing is projected to continue at its current high level. It is expected that 98 % of alldirect EUTM applications will arrive electronically — the same figure as in 2016.

About 3 % of all EUTM applications will not progress further because of the impossibility of establishing a filing date (for example, because the application fee has not been paid). This means that 153 578 applications will progress to examination. Of those, some will be rejected or withdrawn at the examination stage, while others will later be subject to a successful opposition, so that ultimately 132 950 EUTMs are expected to be registered.

It is estimated that 20 940 oppositions will be filed, representing an increase of 13 % over 2016. The same number of opposition files will be closed, the majority (about 2/3) through an agreement between the parties. The Office will issue 6 701 opposition decisions.

Since the overall number of trade marks in the Register is increasing, the Office expects to see a steady increase in cancellation filings to 1 789. Reflecting the current steady-state situation, an equal number (1 789) of cancellation cases will be closed, 753 of them by a decision on substance.

The number of EUTM recordals is forecast to be slightly lower in 2016, at 63 942.

An EUTM can be renewed 10 years after the filing date. The Office expects 55 % of the EUTMs eligible for first renewal in 2017 to be renewed. It is expected that 69 % of trade marks with a filing date of 20 years ago, that were renewed 10 years ago for the first time, will be renewed for the second time.

RCD-related assumptions

The Office expects to receive a total of 100 438 Design filings — 85 939 direct and 14 499 through WIPO. It is estimated that about 91 % of direct design filings will be done electronically.

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Around 3 % of incoming direct filings are withdrawn or refused during the examination process. The rest reach the registration stage. Some 12 % of designs received are deferred at the request of the applicant. The remainder are published immediately.

For RCDs, it is assumed that the first renewal rate will remain constant at 48 % in 2017. In addition, since 2013, the Office has been seeing second renewals of RCDs. For example, designs registered in 2007 and renewed in 2012 can be renewed for a second 5-year period in 2017. It is estimated that also 60 % of RCDs eligible for second renewal will in fact be renewed.

Following consistent recent trends, the number of RCD invalidity filings is forecast to surpass 450 in 2017 of which nearly 400 will be closed with a decision during the same year.

Finally, the number of incoming inspection requests (related to both EUTM and RCD files) is expected to grow to 8 275.


2015 2016Estimate

2017Forecast

EUTMsFilings (Direct + IR) All Filings 130,421 138,196 158,622

Total Classes filed 371,205 382,288 451,471

Direct Filings 108,535 122,140 132,309

% via e-Filing 97.72% 98.78% 98.00%

% via Fast Track 16.79% 20.07% 21.00%

# of EUTMs filed with 1 Class 27,750 35,626 68,787

# of EUTMs filed with 2 Classes 16,790 23,972 26,500

# of EUTMs filed with 3 or more Classes 64,288 62,542 37,021

Average # of Classes per EUTM filed 2.92 2.80 2.30

Total # of Classes filed 317,896 342,138 387,529

IR Filings 21,886 16,056 26,313

# of IRs filed with 1 Class 9,941 7,144 13,680

# of IRs filed with 2 Classes 7,750 2,948 5,270

# of IRs filed with 3 or more Classes 35,618 5,964 7,363

Average # of Classes per IR filed 2.44 2.50 2.30

Total # of Classes filed 53,309 40,150 64,092

Processed (Direct + IR)

Examined 127,321 134,677 153,578

Published 120,842 127,028 146,972

Registered 109,313 117,732 132,950

Renewals (Direct + IR)

All Renewals 32,860 54,957 50,201

1st Renewals 30,669 29,523 40,858

% of 1st Renewals 58.30% 46.22% 55.00%

2nd Renewals 2,191 25,434 9,343

% of 2nd Renewals n/a n/a 68.84%

% via e-Renewal 97.90% 97.70% 96.39%

Oppositions (Direct + IR)All Filings 17,217 18,496 20,940

% via e-Filing 75.78% 88.68% 93.00%

# Decisions 5,474 4,590 6,701

Cancellations (Direct + IR)

All Filings 2,050 1,750 1,789

# Decisions 863 1,030 753

% of e-Cancellations 27.50% 46.10% 46.10%

Recordals (Direct + IR) All Recordals 58,678 66,810 63,942

International Applications All Filings 8,057 8,574 8,000

* TEXT IN BLACK IS EUIPO OUTPUT

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* TEXT IN BLACK IS EUIPO OUTPUT

2015 2016Estimate

2017Forecast

RCDsFilings (Direct + IRCD) All Filings 97,636 104,404 100,438

Direct Filings 86,263 90,704 85,939

% via e-Filing 91.31% 95.92% 91.00%

% via Fast Track 36.60% 27.60% 28.00%

IRCD Filings 11,373 13,700 14,499

Average RCDs / Application 4.04 3.78 3.80

Processed (Direct + IRCD)

Examined 86,825 93,340 89,317

Registered 82,569 89,058 82,259

Published 79,163 85,550 78,866

Deferred 10,380 11,888 10,341

Renewals (Direct + IRCD)All Renewals 54,443 59,136 61,561

1st Renewals 36,166 37,924 40,277

% of 1st Renewals 50.45% 48.00% 48.00%

2nd Renewals 18,277 21,212 21,284

% of 2nd Renewals 29.66% 28.00% 59.80%

Recordals (Direct + IRCD) Recordals 20,086 21,086 22,475

Invalidities (Direct + IRCD)All Filings 269 522 464

# of Decisions 227 156 391

AppealsAll Filings 2,612 2,410 2,914

# of Decisions 2,935 2,942 2,870

Cases lodged before GC 296 350 350

Cases lodged before CJ 65 38 38

InspectionsAll Filings 7,987 6,070 8,275


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APPENDIX 2. SERVICE CHARTER 2017

The following tables show the service standards (based on the maximum time in the specified universe) that the Office will aim for. The service standards will be published on a quarterly basis on the Office website, together with data on average timeliness.

As in previous years, the objectives are organised into three main sections: Timeliness, Accessibility and Quality. Following the commitment stated in the SP2020 to move to 100 % of cases ‘to the extent that this is feasible and economically justified’, all Fast Track and Finance timeliness indicators will consider 100 % of cases (currently 99 and 97 %). Other timeliness indicators will be calculated based on 99 % cases, except Appeals, that keeps the current 90 and 75 % universes. All averages will also be stated for 100 % of cases (currently 99 %) and published online for information purposes. The Office only considers having achieved Excellence in quality when ratings above 99% are reached. For this reason, all Service Charter quality standards will be reported differentiating format and substance. Additional Quality indicators have been created, and all targets have been made more demanding.

For each objective, three levels of achievement have been defined: Excellence (the objective that we strive for), Compliance (considered acceptable) and Actions Needed (indicating that the Office needs to take action to raise the performance standard back into Compliance).

TIMELINESS1

1 - Timeliness objectives expressed in weeks

are calculated based on 7 natural days.

Those measured in months are based on

4 weeks (28 natural days).

Fast TrackObjective 2017

Universe Excellence Compliance Action needed

EUTMsPublication 100% <3 weeks 3-4 weeks >4 weeksRegistration 100% <4 months 4-5 months >5 months

RCDs Registration 100% <2 wdays 2-3 wdays >3 wdays

EUTMs, Standard TrackObjective 2017


Straight forward

Examination done 99% <2 weeks 2-4 weeks >4 weeks

Publication 99% <7 weeks 7-10 weeks >10 weeksRegistration 99% <5 months 5-6 months >6 months

Non straight forward

First action 99% <2 weeks 2-4 weeks >4 weeksAG Re-Exam-

ination 99% <2 months 2-4 months >4 months

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International Registration

Objective 2017


Straight forward

Examination 99% <2 weeks 2-4 weeks >4 weeksRegistration 99% <11 months 11-12 months >12 months

Non straight forward

First action 99% <2 weeks 2-4 weeks >4 weeksAG Re-Exam-

ination 99% <2 months 2-4 months >4 months

RCDsObjective 2017


RCDsFirst action 99% <10 wdays 10-15 wdays >15 wdaysRegistration 99% <10 wdays 10-15 wdays >15 wdays

Opposition, Cancellation and Invalidity

Objective 2017


Oppositions

Opposition admissibility 99% <2 weeks 2-3 weeks >3 weeks

Opposition decision 99% <2 months 2-4 months >4 months

Cancellations Cancellation decision 99% <2 months 2-4 months >4 months

Invalidities Invalidity decision 99% <2 months 2-4 months >4 months

IP ManagementObjective 2017


EUTMs Transfers 99% <10 days 10-14 days >14 days

RCDs Transfers 99% <10 days 10-14 days >14 daysInternational Applications

IAs forward-ing to WIPO 99% <15 days 15-16 days >16 days

FinanceObjective 2017


FinanceAverage payment

time100% <18 days 18-30 days >30 days


AppealsObjective 2017


Appeals

Reception to acknowledgement

sent90% <10 days 10-14 days >14 days

Decisions ex-parte 75% <8 months 8-16 months >16 monthsDecisions inter-par-

te 75% <8 months 8-16 months >16 months

ACCESSIBILITY

QUALITY

AccessibilityObjective 2017

Excellence Compliance Action needed

Accessibility

Telephone calls to First Line/ e business hotline <16 secs 16-20 secs >20 secs

Emails answered by Informa-tion Centre <3 days 3 days >3 days

Complaints <8 days 8-11 days >11 days

Direct and call back acces-sibility >99% 99-95 % <95%

Website availability >99% 99-98 % <98%

QualityObjective 2017


Cases without substance errors

EUTM examination proceedings

Examination proceedings before publication A >99% 99-96 % <96%

Examination proceedings after publication A >99% 99-96 % <96%

Changes to the register >99% 99-96 % <96%

EUTM AG decisions >99% 99-96 % <96%

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QualityObjective 2017


Cases without substance

errors

Opposition proceedings >99% 99-96 % <96%

Opposition decisions >99% 99-96 % <96%

Cancellation proceedings >99% 99-96 % <96%

Cancellation decisions >99% 99-96 % <96%

RCD publications >99% 99-96 % <96%

RCD invalidity proceedings >99% 99-96 % <96%

RCD invalidity decisions >99% 99-96 % <96%

Cases without format errors

EUTM examination proceedings

Examination proceedings before publication A >99% 99-96 % <96%

Examination proceedings after publication A >99% 99-96 % <96%

Changes to the register >99% 99-96 % <96%

EUTM AG decisions >99% 99-96 % <96%

Opposition proceedings >99% 99-96 % <96%

Opposition decisions >99% 99-96 % <96%

Cancellation proceedings >99% 99-96 % <96%

Cancellation decisions >99% 99-96 % <96%

RCD publications >99% 99-96 % <96%

RCD invalidity proceedings >99% 99-96 % <96%

RCD invalidity decisions >99% 99-96 % <96%


WORK PROGRAMME 2017

APPENDIX 3. BALANCED SCORECARD

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Principle Line of Action

Strategic Objective Code Indicator Name 2016 2017

Colla

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n

LOA1

Bui

ld a

dyn

amic

and

kno

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dgea

ble

orga

nisa

tion

OB 1.1: Foster engagement in the organisation

1.1.1 Staff satisfaction with internal communication 60.0% 60.0%

1.1.2 Staff satisfaction with the Office Reputation 69.5% 69.5%

1.1.3 Staff satisfaction with the Office Management 55.0% 55.0%

1.1.4 Days of absenteeism (short term) 5.80% 5.0%

1.1.5 Days of absenteeism (long term: 365+1) 1.20% 2.00%

OB 1.2: Develop, retain and share knowledge across the organisation

1.2.1 Training days per employee 3.6 3.6

1.2.2 Internal training satisfaction 66.0% 67.0%

1.2.3 Staff consider appraisal process fair 53.0% 53.0%

1.2.4 Examiners with multi-tasking profile1.75 areas covered

per examiner

2 areas covered

per examiner

1.2.5 Inter departmental mobility rate 39 procedures 42.0%1

1.2.6 Staff ability to work in several languages 81.5% 81.5%

1.2.7 Former trainees contractually linked with the Office 3.0% 3.0%

1.2.8Trainees indicating that the traineeship facilitated their access to employment / further studies

67.5% 68.0%

1.2.9 Cross departmental collaboration 67.5% 69.5%

1.2.10 Usage of knowledge repositories3,420 files

accesses

3,500 files

accesses1.2.11 Numbers of hits on the e-learning platform 90,000 95,000

1 - 1.2.5: To improve the usefulness of this metric, calculation in 2017 is expressed as a percentage (“Number of successful internal mobility procedures over total number of internal mobility procedures launched”) instead of an absolute number.

WORK PROGRAMME 2017





Colla

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LOA1

Bui

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and

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orga

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tion

OB 1.3: Optimise a sustainable workplace

1.3.1 Staff satisfaction with the workplace 68.0% 72.0%

1.3.2 Infrastructure cost per on-site worker €16,289 €16,289

1.3.3 Paper saved as result of digital strategy 24 tons 27.5 tons

1.3.4 Paper consumption per on-site worker 46.23 Kg 45.1 Kg

1.3.5 Toner consumption per on-site worker 0.16 Kg 0.23 Kg

1.3.6 Water consumption per on-site worker 12.7 m3 12.7 m3

1.3.7 Energy consumed (gas + electricity) per on-site worker 9.4 MWh 9.4 MWh

1.3.8 Quantity of renewable energy produced on-site 17.0% 4.7%

1.3.9 Ratio of significant security breaches 1.5% 1.5%

1.3.10 Time required to declare the premises completely evacuated 6.9 min 6.7 min

1.3.11 Renewable energy consumed on-site - 87.0%

Colla

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n

LOA2

Incr

ease

tran

spar

ency

and

ac

coun

tabi

lity

acco

unta

bilit

y

OB 2.1: Strengthen the financial management of the Office

2.1.1 Budget forecast accuracy (expenditure)

From 95.0%

to 100.0%

From 95.0%

to 100.0%

2.1.2 Budget forecast accuracy (revenue)

From 97.0%

to 120.0%

From 97.0%

to 120.0%

2.1.3 Budget forecast accuracy (carry over) 86.00% 86.00%

2.1.4 Manpower unit cost €667.00 €660.001

2.1.5 Current Account and Credit/Debit Card payments 79.0% 79.0%

1 - 2.1.4: Under revision; new definition will be provided during 2017.





Colla

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Org

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n

LOA2

Incr

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and

ac

coun

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lity

acco

unta

bilit

y

OB 2.2: Ensure swift alignment with all applicable regulations and implementing rules

2.2.1 Compliance with Internal Audit recommendations 70.0% 70.0%

2.2.3 Observations from European Court of Auditors 1 1

2.2.4 Entries in the Register of Exceptions 0.70% 0.70%

2.2.5 Processes implemented considering the Data Protection Officer opinion

70.0% 73.0%

2.2.6 Tender offers processing timeliness 50.0% 55.0%

OB 2.3: Strengthen prevention and detection of fraud

2.3.1 Staff awareness of Anti-fraud strategy 63.5% 63.5%

2.3.2 Risk level of Fraud related risks (ERM) < = 13 < = 13

OB 2.4: Ensure sustainability of the Office for the future

2.4.1 Number of non-conformities in certified management systems from external audits 0 0

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ion

LOA3

Fos

ter

an

effec

tive

and

sec

ure

digi

tal e

nvir

onm

ent

OB 3.1: Streamline operations with advanced digital tools

3.1.1 Procedures initiated and executed digitally 57.3% 60.0%

WORK PROGRAMME 2017





Inte

rnat

iona

l Coo

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tion

LOA4

Inte

nsify

net

wor

k en

gage

men

t

OB 4.1: Support and strengthen cooperative networks for greater convergence

4.1.1 % of harmonised offices per project 72.0% 77.0%

4.1.2 Execution rate of European Cooperation agreements 71.0% 71.0%

OB 4.2: Extend reach of existing tools and databases

4.2.1 Trade Marks available in TM View 42,000,000 44,000,000

4.2.2 Designs available in DS View 9,550,000 10,240,000

4.2.3 Usage of Similarity 7,905 visits

8,200 visits

4.2.4 Stakeholders satisfied with EU funded projects 75.0% 75.0%

4.2.5 Non-EU offices implementing tools and practices 68 73

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LOA3

Fos

ter

an e

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tive

and

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ure

digi

tal

envi

ronm

ent

OB 3.2: Strengthen IT Security

3.2.1 IT Security Incidents 11 10

OB 3.3: Maintain and improve service availability of systems

3.3.1 Office tools availability 98.0% 98.0%

OB 3.4: Ensure cost effectiveness

3.4.1 IT investment in new projects and initiatives versus total IT cost 22.0% 22.0%

3.4.2 IT cost per IT user €22,700 €21,000

implementations implementations


implementations




Inte

rnat

iona

l Coo

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tion

LOA4

Inte

nsify

net

wor

k en

gage

men

t OB 4.3 Enhance common tools and data bases with new functionalities

4.3.1 User satisfaction with TM View, DS View and TM Class 79.0% 81.0%

4.3.2 National Offices satisfaction with ECP Tools (Back Office) 63.0% 66.0%

OB 4.4: Create new IP tools and databases

4.4.1 Usage of national court judgments database

3,900 searches

3,900 searches

OB 4.5: Strengthen networks of EU agencies

4.5.1 Visits to landing page of EU agencies extranet 1,080 1,200

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LOA5

Enh

ance

cus

tom

er-d

rive

n qu

ality

ser

vice

s

OB 5.1: Further integrate user perspective in delivery of products and services

5.1.1 User satisfaction with the Office’s decision(s) predictability 59.0% 62.0%

5.1.2 Users awareness of the Office's Guidelines 45.0% 48.0%

OB 5.2: Increase the proportion of straight-through files processed by improving predictability

5.2.1 EUTMAs automatically classified 33.0% 41.0%

5.2.2 EUTMAs filed using Fast Track 25.0% 30.0%

5.2.3 Designs filed using Fast Track 25.0% 26.0%

5.2.4 EUTMAs expressions automatically classified 77.0% 80.0%

5.2.5 Formalities deficiency rate 3.6% 5.5%1

5.2.6 Classification deficiency rate 12.6% 17.0%1

5.2.7 AG Objection rate 6.3% 7.5%1

5.2.8 RCD deficiency rate 27.0% 31.0%

1 - 5.2.5, 5.2.6, 5.2.7: A new calculation method was established to fine tune the result; this change has increased the universe of cases by including all cases irrespective of the date of examination. The targets were updated accordingly to be aligned with the new method.

WORK PROGRAMME 2017





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LOA5

Enh

ance

cus

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er-d

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vice

s OB 5.3: Optimise team working for high-quality delivery

5.3.1 Areas of expertise in the teams 3 3

5.3.2 Staff satisfaction on Teamwork 67.5% 67.5%

5.3.3 Index automatic translation (at source language) 55.0% 57.0%

5.3.4 Appeals confirmation rate ex-parte decisions 72.0% 75.0%

5.3.5 Appeals confirmation rate inter-partes decisions 63.0% 66.0%

5.3.6 General Court confirmation rate 75.0% 75.0%

Inte

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LOA6

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the

Inte

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ual P

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Syst

em

OB 6.1: Contribute to harmonised implementa-tion of the legis-lative reform

6.1.1 Implementation of the legislative reform in the office 54.0% 57.0%

OB 6.2: Deliver evidence-based research on key areas of IP

6.2.1Downloads of relevant papers/publications from the Observatory Website

5,440 5,440

6.2.2Stakeholders perception on the quality of the studies carried out by Observatory

70.0% 73.0%

6.2.3 Observatory website visitors 4,752 per month

5,951 per month

OB 6.3: Strengthen cooperation and knowledge-sharing with and among enforcement authorities

6.3.1 Studies and Reports published by Observatory 16 18

6.3.2 User satisfaction with the Enforcement Tools 75.0% 75.0%

6.3.3 Enforcement Database usage by rights holders

1,040 products

1,200 products





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LOA6

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the

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ual P

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OB 6.4: Support EU business, in particular SMEs, in protecting their IP rights

6.4.1 SME's use of Intellectual Property 9.0% 9.0%

6.4.2 SME's knowledge of term 'Intellectual Property Rights' 24.0% 24.0%

6.4.3 New direct filers 10,050 10,500

6.4.4 External stakeholders training satisfaction 66.0% 72.3%

OB 6.5: Raise awareness among citizens and decision-makers of the impact and value of IP rights

6.5.115 to 24 year-olds that bought counterfeit products over the last 12 months

14.0% 14.0%

6.5.3 Europeans awareness of legal offers for downloading or streaming music 65.0% 68.0%

6.5.4 Usage of Orphan Works Database 1800 searches 6000 searches1

6.5.5 Number of works in the Orphan Works Database 12,000 12,737

6.5.6 Press Coverage (external communication) 522 articles 804 articles

1 - 6.5.4: Estimation of usage has been revised for 2017, considering the current figures.

WORK PROGRAMME 2017


WORK PROGRAMME 2017

APPENDIX 4. ANNUAL STAFF POLICY PLAN

This human resources plan is proposed in the context of the Work Programme 2017, and the budget that is related to it. It provides the means to implement the activities and projects included in the work programme 2017 as foreseen in the Strategic Plan 2020.

Once again, it must be reminded that the services delivered by the EUIPO are business driven and self-financed which constitutes a valuable specificity of this Office. In addition to the standard constraints of sound financial management, the Office has the duty and the responsibility to preserve the appropriate balance of revenue and costs in the context of self-financing. It has also the obligation to deliver the services as expected by its users at the right level of performance set by the service charter to which we are committed towards the public, in terms of timeliness, accessibility and quality of decisions.

It is therefore a challenge to find a good balance between, on the one hand the application of the budgetary discipline agreed at the level of the EU institutions in particular for the control of title I of the budget and, on the other hand, disposing of the human capital allowing to cope with the sustained growth of applications filed by users, the recurrent activities necessary for operations, the objectives of the Strategic Plan 2020 adopted by the Management Board and the implementation of the new amended EU trade mark Regulation providing for the enhancement of the activities in the field of cooperation.

Principles applicable to Human Resources Planning 2017

When developing this Planning 2017, the following principles are applied:

1. The gradual 5 % reduction in the Establishment Plan between 2013 and 2017 will be achieved in accordance with the Inter-institutional Agreement of 2 December 2013 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline, cooperation in budgetary matters, and on sound financial management. The Office implemented a gradual reduction of the Office’s Establishment Plan by 2 % in 2014 and an additional 1 % in annual reductions in 2015 and 2016. The remaining 1 % cut will be implemented in 2017 despite the outstanding growth of trade mark applications logged in the last two years, and the tendencies confirming such growth.

2. The prudent figure of 5 % volume growth which was the historical yearly average that was applied in the budget preparation from 2014 to 2016 revealed to be significantly underestimated compared with the reality. This forced the Office to propose an amended


budget for 2016, based on a more scientific and accurate methodology (ARIMA; Auto Regressive Integrated Moving Average), approved by the Management Board and the Budget Committee in June 2016. Applying the same model, the business growth of the EUIPO for 2017 is estimated to be 9 %. The figures recorded during the first months of 2016 confirm that even this estimation is conservative.

3. The EUIPO remains committed in making the most of its investments and benefits resulting from the Strategic Plan 2011-2015 and other efficiency gains. As planned, it will manage to absorb 5 % of the volume growth in 2017 by materializing the effects of such benefits. As a consequence, the evolution of staff needs for the year 2017 is limited to 4 % (difference between 9 % growth and 5% efficiency gains). As from 2018, the efficiency gains will allow the EUIPO to absorb the increasing volumes up to 3 %.

4. The workforce volume for 2017 is based on EUIPO’s headcount as foreseen at the end of December 2016, incremented by 4 %. This volume of additional resources is in principle allocated in priority to operational activities (80 %) and distributed into 70 % for permanent positions and 30 % for temporary positions, subject to confirmation of the needs. The Office will also aim to increase the proportion of Administrators which is currently considered too low compared with the needs. Finally, all this will respond to the concerns identified during the 2016 Staff Satisfaction Survey where the EUIPO staff clearly reacted to the increasing workload and not corresponding staffing levels.

5. The additional workforce introduced in 2016 was mainly constituted by Contract Agents. However, given the sustained growth of volume of activities, recourse to additional Officials and Temporary agents is now necessary. To this regard, it must be noted that the reserve lists resulting from the IP competitions organised in 2013/2014 are almost exhausted. New competitions are required in a very short term in order to retain talent and provide qualified profiles for recruitment in the field of Intellectual Property.

6. In principle Officials and Temporary Agents retirements or invalidity cases will be substituted, subject of case-by-case analyses. Temporary agents reaching the end-of-contract date will be either substituted or renewed following the needs of the service and according to the framework defined in 2016.

7. The use of agency staff (interim staff) for substitution of temporary structural absences will be reduced. Instead, a limited number of Contract Agents will be allocated mainly in the departments dealing with operational activities in order to compensate for the non-substitution. The Office believes that this measure will further improve the efficiency in core activities without additional budget burden (in principle the cost is almost neutral).

WORK PROGRAMME 2017


8. One of EUIPO’s priorities in HR management is the internalisation of some tasks that are currently carried out through external resources contracts. It is necessary to retain knowledge and expertise that is considered essential for the organisation. The internalisation offers continuity when a task that originally was of a consulting nature, becomes more implementation oriented. This internalisation is made possible by engaging Contracts Agents and has even a positive budgetary impact materialised by the transfer of funds from the budgetary line of consultancy to title I.

9. The benefice of temporary integration of staff from the Member States’ IP offices, requiring a decision laying down rules on the secondment to the Office of nat ional experts, is now recognized by the amended trade mark regulation. The required decision laying down the rules on the secondment was adopted by the Management Board on 31st May 2016 (Decision MB-16-13).

10. Since 2016, EUIPO’s budget is activity-based. As such the available and planned human resources are distributed over 4 categories (Operational activities; SP2020 Projects, EU Cooperation (Art. 123 c) and Legislative Reform) and by 6 Lines of Action.

Human resources baseline 2017

The table below gives an overview of the EUIPO workforce baseline 2017 as budgeted:

EUIPO WORKFORCE END 2016 AND BUDGET POSSIBILITIES 2016Staff category Forecasted end 2016 Forecasted 2017FT & TA 744 773CA 1431 184Subtotal statutory 887 957SNE 67 70Total 954 1027

1 - In 2016, 14 positions of Officials or Temporary agents could not be filled because of lack of available reserve lists. Instead, 14 contract agents were recruited by transfer of the equivalent budget to the corresponding budget line.


Operations SP2020 EU Cooperation Legislative Reform

Grand Total

Line of Action FT-TA CA SNE FT-TA CA SNE FT-TA CA SNE FT-TA CA

LoA1 - Grow a dynamic and knowledgeable organisation of people

73 30 2 6 1 112

LoA2 - Increase transparency and accountability

122 22 2 2 1 149

LoA3 - Foster an effective and secure digital environment

53 12 12 3 80

LoA4 - Intensify network engagement

22 19 6 3 7 1 4 7 7 76

LoA5 - Enhance customer-driven quality services

435 69 44 3 4 2 557

LoA6 - Strengthen the Intellectual Property System

26 4 4 3 1 9 6 53

Grand Total 731 156 58 29 15 5 4 7 7 9 6 1027

The table below shows the distribution by Line of Action, categories and type of staff:

WORK PROGRAMME 2017


Department FT-TA CA SNE Grand Total

ACADEMY DEPARTMENT 13 8 1 22

BOARDS OF APPEAL 93 9 6 108

CABINET 4 2 6

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 2 2

COMMUNICATION SERVICE 12 4 1 17

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE SERVICE 5 7 2 14

CUSTOMER SERVICES DEPARTMENT 80 32 7 119

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION DEPARTMENT 63 14 77

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR-DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 4 4

FINANCE DEPARTMENT 63 7 70

HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT 36 15 51

INFRASTRUCTURES AND BUILDINGS DEPARTMENT 30 10 1 41

INTERNAL AUDIT SERVICE 6 6

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND LEGAL AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT 72 46 13 131

OBSERVATORY DEPARTMENT 25 4 4 33

OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT 265 26 35 326

Grand Total 773 184 70 1027

These 2017 budget possibilities are distributed by department as follows:

Establishment Plan 2017

The Establishment Plan for 2017 takes into account the last reduction of 1 % resulting from the Inter-institutional Agreement on budgetary discipline (2 % were taken in 2014, an additional 1 % in 2015 and another 1 % in 2016). Nevertheless, it allows the growth of resources up to the additional 4 % foreseen in terms of staff, which in its turn results in a better occupational rate of the posts.


A technical adjustment of the Establishment plan will be requested to the Budget Committee of the Office in order to allow the future execution of the EPSO competitions planned in the Strategic Plan 2020.

Promotions are foreseen on the basis of the application of the reference rates as stated inAnnex IB of the Staff Regulations.

Two AST permanent posts are transformed into AD posts in order to allow the organisationof a certification procedure for Officials.

The Establishment Plan for the Work Programme 2017 looks as follows:

Category and gradeEstablishment plan foreseen in 2017

Permanent TemporaryAD 16 0 1

AD 15 0 3

AD 14 27 24

AD 13 34 8

AD 12 26 20

AD 11 9 26

AD 10 7 9

AD 9 11 11

AD 8 6 8

AD 7 13 3

AD 6 11 0

AD 5 0 0

Total AD 144 113

AST 11 35 8

AST 10 27 7

AST 9 55 26

AST 8 59 19

AST 7 57 25

AST 6 79 52

AST 5 25 49

AST 4 11 9

AST 3 18 0

AST 2 0 0

AST 1 0 0

Total AST 366 195

TOTAL 510 308

WORK PROGRAMME 2017


WORK PROGRAMME 2017

APPENDIX 5. FINANCIAL RESOURCES

The financial consequences in the revenues and expenditures of the Work Programme 2017 take into account:

the new landscape of EUIPO revenues;

the financial consequences of the projects associated with SP2020, EU Cooperation (falling under art 123c), the costs of the legislative reform and the cost of the international cooperation projects funded by the European Commission, which are now integrated in the Office’s budget;

the new estimates of higher growth of incoming EUTM applications and the corresponding increase of staff covered by posts in the Establishment Plan (after 5 % of efficiency gains).

The table below reflects the budget allocated by activities, at the level of line of action.

Since LoA5 is the line of action covering most of the EUIPO’s products, it concentrates the main part of the financial resources, followed by LoA4, which includes the EU Cooperation Heading. The Observatory deliverables are included in LoA 6. LoA1 (HR policies and infrastructure investment), LoA 2 (financial transparency and accountability) and LoA3 (IT investments) support the overall delivery of the plan.

Line of Action – Financial resources Budget 2017 PDB 2018 Outlook

2019Outlook

2020

LoA1 - Grow a dynamic and knowledgeable organisation of people 52.0 42.5 41.5 42.5

LoA2 - Increase transparency and accountability 17.1 18.7 20.2 21.4

LoA3 - Foster an effective and secure digital environment 38.8 39.7 37.7 36.7

LoA4 - Intensify network engagement 37.0 42.8 44.7 38.4

LoA5 - Enhance customer-driven quality services 88.1 92.0 98.4 103.8

LoA6 - Strengthen the Intellectual Property System 16.0 15.1 14.8 13.4

Grand Total (EUR million) 249.1 250.9 257.2 256.3


Cost Heading – Financial resources Budget 2017 PDB 2018 Outlook

2019Outlook

2020

EU Cooperation (Article 123c) 27.5 32.7 34.0 27.4

Strategic Plan 2020 projects 29.5 14.9 10.4 8.3

Legislative Reform Implementation 2.5 0.8 0.4 0.1

Observatory 10.9 12.1 12.7 11.6

Grand Total (EUR million) 70.4 60.5 57.5 47.4

WORK PROGRAMME 2017


Risk ID RISK DESCRIPTION RISK TYPE(risk typology)

EXISTING CONTROLS OR ACTIONS

ALREADY TAKEN

RESIDUAL RISK LEVELImpact (I)

Likelihood (L)

RISK RESPONSE

Avoid/Transfer/ Reduce/Accept (watch)

ACTION PLAN SUMMARYAdditional/

ongoing actions to

mitigate risk

2016_31(Q1 2016)

High increase of incoming workload – A significant

increase in the number of Trademark filings above the

forecasted figures could impact the Office capacity to process incoming requests

and still maintain the commitments with users as stated in the service charter.

Operational

Continuous follow up of the number of incoming requests (Office Balance Scorecard indicators)

16I (4)L (4)

Reduce

Adapt resourcing

depending on needs

Measures to improve efficiency of processes

2016_33(Q1 2016)

Financial and reputational impact of the annulment

of award decision of IT framework contract – The European Court of Justice (ECJ) annulled the award decision of the current IT framework contract and ruled the payment of a

financial compensation by the Office. As the parties did not reach an agreement on the compensation, there is still uncertainty on the total

financial impact. The ECJ ruling has been appealed.

Compliance with laws and regulations

The office has already implemented improvements in the process for call for tenders, empathising clearness, transparency and unambiguity in the redaction of the technical specifications and the evaluation criteria.

16I (4)L (4)

Reduce

Reinforce training

for tender evaluations.

WORK PROGRAMME 2017

APPENDIX 6. CORPORATE RISK REGISTER


2014_03(Q2 2014)

Distribution of unsolicited misleading invoices

to Office users - When users file applications for trade marks or designs

they systematically receive fraudulent/misleading

invoices. The continuation of these schemes could

damage the Office reputation.

Safeguarding of assets information and staff

The Office is taking action on a number of fronts:- Information to users- IT investigations- Office Anti-Fraud strategy- legal actions against fraudsters- Cooperation with NO´s, EUROPOL and the EC- Knowledge Circle enforcement- Anti-Scam Working Group

16I (4)L (4)

Reduce

Continue ongoing activities, Intensify

information to the Office

users in relation to the change

of the Office name and new fee

structure.

Risk ID RISK DESCRIPTION RISK TYPE(risk typology)

EXISTING CONTROLS OR ACTIONS

ALREADY TAKEN

RESIDUAL RISK LEVELImpact (I)

Likelihood (L)

RISK RESPONSE

Avoid/Transfer/ Reduce/Accept (watch)

ACTION PLAN SUMMARYAdditional/

ongoing actions to

mitigate risk

2016_34(Q2 2016)

Delays in the procurement process – Delays in the

procurement process or lack of rigorous planning could

lead to problems in the delivery of projects/activities and/or request for contract

extensions (time and/or money).

Operational

Monitoring of procurement planning and consumptions of contracted amountSpecific Guidance regarding extensions and/or prolongations of contracts

15I (5)L (3)

Reduce

Improvements on Call for

Tender procedures

Reinforcement of the

follow-up of future needs

requiring procurement

processes

WORK PROGRAMME 2017


WORK PROGRAMME 2017

APPENDIX 7. PROCUREMENT PLAN

Procedure name Volume Plan Date Procedure Type

2017

Carbon offsetting 2017-2020 € 360,000.00 30/06/2017 Open

Cleaning waste, gardening, DDD € 8,170,000.00 30/06/2017 Open

Europol Grant € 500,000.00 30/06/2017 Grants

General maintenance, gym et RFID € 15,415,000.00 30/06/2017 Open

Goods lift € 150,000.00 30/06/2017 Open

Insurance property damage & civil liability € 500,000.00 30/06/2017 Open

Library AA3 € 200,000.00 30/06/2017 Open

Normalization and unification of the gaseous fire extinguishing installations € 400,000.00 30/06/2017 Open

Normalization of the fire protection system AA1+AA2 € 650,000.00 30/06/2017 Open

Other specific studies € 100,000.00 30/06/2017 Negotiated

Public Awareness Grant € 1,000,000.00 30/06/2017 Grants

Purchase of IP content related DBs € 50,000.00 30/06/2017 Negotiated

Shielding electrical station AA1 € 180,000.00 30/06/2017 Open

Software Quality Control € 16,000,000.00 30/06/2017 Open

Building signage € 500,000.00 31/12/2017 Open

Catering services € 10,400,000.00 31/12/2017 Open

IBM software (Informix, FileNet) € 2,000,000.00 31/12/2017 Negotiated

Inventory, warehouse, removal € 1,440,000.00 31/12/2017 Open

Logistical support for events € 16,000,000.00 31/12/2017 Open

Mailroom, Key-In and Mail dispatch € 4,000,000.00 31/12/2017 Open

Standard mail delivery € 942,000.00 31/12/2017 Negotiated


WORK PROGRAMME 2017

APPENDIX 8. MISSION STATEMENT AND ORGANISATION CHART

The Office was established by the Council Regulation (EC) No. 40/941 in 1994. The mission of the Office is to manage the European Union Trade Mark (EUTM), according to Regulation (EU) 2015/2424 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and Registered Community Design (RCD), created by the Council Regulation (EC) No. 6/2002. In order to do so, the Office carries out examination, registration, opposition, cancellation, administration and promotion procedures for European Union Trade Marks and examination, registration, invalidity and promotion procedures for Registered Community Designs. All decisions adversely affecting a party to a proceeding can be appealed to the Boards of Appeal of the Office. In order to further support IP rights holders, the Office engages in a wide range of cooperation and convergence activities with other IP offices, such as the activities regarding the European Cooperation regulated by Article 123c of the EUTM Regulation.

In June 2012 by Regulation (EU) No 386/2012, the Observatory was entrusted to the Office. It houses the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights. The Regulation transferring the Observatory to the Office covers responsibility for a wide range of tasks relating to research, communication, spread of best practice, and support for enforcement of all types of intellectual property rights. In October 2012 by Directive 2012/28/EU, the Office was also entrusted to establish and manage the single publicly accessible European database containing information related to orphan works.

1 - Amended by Regulation (EU)

2015/2424 of the European Parliament of the Council (‘EUTM

Regulation’).

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APPENDIX 9. OBSERVATORY WORK PROGRAMME

1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 STRUCTURE OF THE OBSERVATORY 1.2 THE MULTIANNUAL PLAN 1.3 ACTIVITIES IN 2016 1.4 STRUCTURE OF THIS DOCUMENT

2. WORKING GROUPS OF THE OBSERVATORY

3. EXECUTION OF THE MULTIANNUAL PLAN IN 2017 3.1.1 Activities planned for 2017 in the area of Public Awareness 3.1.2 Activities planned for 2017 in the area of Enforcement 3.1.3 Activities planned for 2017 in the area Legal and International 3.1.4 Activities planned for 2017 in the area IP in the Digital World 3.1.5 Activities planned for 2017 in the area Economics and Statistics

4. OBSERVATORY MEETINGS AND CONFERENCES IN 2017 4.1 EVENTS 4.2 OBSERVATORY MEETINGS 4.3 ADVISORY BOARD MEETINGS 4.4 WORKING GROUP MEETINGS ANNEX 1: LEGAL BASIS FOR THE ACTIVITIES OF THE OBSERVATORY

ANNEX 2: OUTLINE OF OBSERVATORY BUDGET FOR 2017

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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 STRUCTURE OF THE OBSERVATORY

Regulation 386/2012 entrusts EUIPO with the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights. The Observatory has a wide range of tasks relating to research, communication, spread of best practice, and support for enforcement of all types of intellectual property rights.

The tasks listed in the Regulation include:

Improving the understanding of the scope and impact of infringements of intellectual property rights, including industrial property rights, copyright, and rights related to copyright;

Improving the understanding of the value of intellectual property;

Enhancing the knowledge of best public and private sector practices to protect intellectual property rights;

Raising citizens’ awareness of the impact of infringements of intellectual property rights;

Enhancing the expertise of persons involved in the enforcement of intellectual property rights;

Enhancing the knowledge of technical tools to prevent and combat counterfeiting and piracy, including tracking and tracing systems;

Improving the online exchange between Member States’ authorities and fostering co-operation with and between the central industrial property offices of the Member States, including the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property;

Fostering international cooperation with intellectual property offices in third countries to build strategies and develop techniques for the protection of intellectual property rights, skills, and tools.

The Observatory constitutes a representative network. In addition to the representatives of the 28 Member States, the Observatory includes 63 organisations representing the private sector, 7 organisations representing civil society and consumers, 10 MEPs and 10 European and international organisations and agencies that act as observers.

As indicated in Article 8 of Regulation 386/2012 in 2017 the European Commission will carry out in 2017 an evaluation to assess the operation of the Regulation, in particular as regards its impact on the enforcement of intellectual property rights in the internal market.


1.2 THE MULTIANNUAL PLAN

The Observatory operates under a Multiannual Work Plan 2014-2018 in order to provide a longer-term perspective and integration with the Office’s Strategic Plan. The Multiannual Plan is also the basis for the annual Work Programme for the Observatory, which sets out the objectives for the year ahead.

At the heart of the Multiannual Plan are the three main goals of the Observatory:

To provide facts and evidence for use in the formulation of effective IP policies by policymakers;

To create tools and resources to sharpen the fight against IP infringement;

To raise awareness of IP and of the negative effects of counterfeiting and piracy.

The present Work Programme outlines the activities to be undertaken by the Observatory during 2017 in the framework of the Multiannual Plan. It includes projects that continue work begun in previous years, some of which will deliver their final results in 2017.

1.3 ACTIVITIES IN 2016

Four years since the EUIPO was entrusted with the Observatory, and three years after the first studies were published, its work is playing a visible part in the debate on the future of intellectual property. Having mapped most aspects of the issues related to IP and its importance in the economy and society, it appears that a number of elements need to be addressed in order to efficiently and effectively fight against counterfeiting and piracy. These elements can be summarised as:

Supporting a clear, efficient, modern legal framework;

Continuing to build the knowledge base for use in policy formulation on the EU and national levels;

Helping focus enforcement efforts directed against those who infringe the IP of legitimate rights holders;

Raising awareness in society in general and, importantly, among young citizens and SMEs;

Improving the knowledge about legal alternatives that correspond to the expectations of consumers.

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The role of the Observatory is not to find solutions to all these questions. Its role is limited by Regulation 386/2012. However, it can contribute in all these matters. Some of the main activities that have been carried out in 2016 include, amongst others:

The publication of several studies and reports, including the study on digital advertising on suspected infringing websites, a study of international trade in counterfeit goods in collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a study on infringement of GIs for wine, spirits, agricultural products and foodstuffs in the European Union, as well as several studies of the impact of infringement in specific industry sectors. A study on business models most commonly used to infringe IP online was also released and a report on the use of trade secrets was published in collaboration with the Centre for European Economic Research in Mannheim. Finally, a study on voluntary collaboration practices was carried out.

The Enforcement Database (EDB) which was launched in 2014 now contains almost 400 companies, with more being added every month. 2016 saw the first Applications for Action sent electronically through the tool while more enforcement authorities have joined (e.g. Europol, OLAF and several national authorities). The second EDB Forum was held on 28-29 June, joining enforcers and rights holders from all over Europe.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Intelligence Support Tool (ACIST) has grown from an initial phase showing information on detentions at the border in all EU Member States to also including harmonised internal market detentions from police authorities of a majority of Member States.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Rapid Intelligence System (ACRIS) has been developed. The intelligence database allows EU companies to report, in a structured format, information about IPR infringements they believe they were victims of and respective follow-up by local authorities in countries outside of the European Union.

Two major knowledge building conferences were held during 2016, one on counterfeiting of foodstuffs, beverages and agricultural products, and the other on toys and computer games. Both conferences were organised in cooperation with Europol and Eurojust and were attended by police, customs and other enforcement authorities. There were also two regional seminars for enforcement officials, one in Lisbon (in cooperation with the Autoridade de Segurança Alimentar e Económica – ASAE) and one in the UK (in cooperation with the UKIPO), and a training session for police officials in Paris in coordination with CEPOL, the European Police College. A seminar on IPR enforcement with 130 participants from 27 EU Member States took place in February 2016 at EUIPO, organised in cooperation with European Commission (DG TAXUD). The second workshop of the European Intellectual Public Prosecutors Network in March was co-chaired by the Observatory and Eurojust, and the successful Judges’ Seminar series has continued to run, with three seminars in 2016 bringing together senior IP judges and prosecutors from every EU Member State, and occasionally from the USA.


As part of the Youth Action Plan, a qualitative and quantitative survey, the Youth Scoreboard, was completed to deepen the analysis of European youngsters’ attitudes towards the purchase of counterfeit goods and consumption of illegal digital content. The report was published in April 2016. Another strand of the Youth Action Plan, the build-up of a community and an online dialogue on social media networks, supported by the Ideas Powered website, has been further developed. A workshop was organised in June, gathering a group of youngsters from different countries and backgrounds to reflect on the results of the Scoreboard, to share experience, and to discuss and identify, in an interactive format, relevant messages and approaches to convey the importance of intellectual property protection to youth across Europe, while discussing about how to expand the Ideas Powered initiative.

The eleven awareness-raising initiatives awarded with a grant in July 2015, were fully deployed in the course of 2016. These projects cover educational projects in schools or target young people in universities, through games and via social media. They also cover campaigns targeting consumers, such as in local markets and in cities.

A new page was published on the Observatory’s website which provides answers to 15 of the most common questions European consumers have regarding copyright in the digital environment.

“agorateka”, a new online portal that helps consumers find legal digital content, such as music, films and TV, e-books and video games, from various European Union countries, was launched. agorateka currently has information on France, Latvia, Portugal and the United Kingdom, with more countries set to join from next year.

A survey of SMEs in all 28 Member States, the SME Scoreboard, was carried out to understand why SMEs decide to use – or to not use – IP rights; and in the case of the latter, to assess what could be done to help those SMEs which would like to use IP rights but encounter real or perceived barriers. This research was published in June 2016. This assessment was an important step forward in understanding the needs of SMEs and in helping to prioritise IPR policies designed to meet those needs.

A survey of enforcement of EU companies’ IPR in third countries was carried on behalf of DG TRADE. The results of the survey have been provided to DG TRADE which will use them as an input into its assessment of the global IPR protection scene.

The various studies, databases and tools developed during the past four years constitute the base for the continuing work of the Observatory. Thus, many of the activities in 2017 are a continuation of the activities of 2016 and prior years. The efforts initiated in 2016 to enhance the visibility of the Observatory work (especially the results of the studies) which have given very positive results, will be continued in 2017. At the same time the Observatory will work more closely with media partners and local IP authorities to increase outreach

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in all Member States. The main goals for 2017 are to reach more general public and in all Member States.

Many of these activities are carried out in cooperation with other European bodies and agencies, including various Directorates-General of the European Commission, Eurojust, Europol, CEPOL, the European Patent Office (EPO), with EU Member States, and with international organisations such as the World Customs Organization (WCO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Interpol and the OECD.

1.4 STRUCTURE OF THIS DOCUMENT

The remainder of this document consists of four parts:

Section 2 provides a brief description of the Working Groups that comprise the Observatory. These Working Groups are organised along the lines of five main subjects.

Section 3 describes the activities the Office will undertake to implement the Multiannual Plan in 2017. Specifically, for each of the five Working Group subjects, the projects and activities to be executed to support the corresponding area during the year are briefly described.

Section 4 outlines the meetings and conferences planned for 2017.

Finally, the annexes provide information on the legal basis for the activities of the Observatory and on the 2017 budget.

Each activity has been assigned a code; the first one or two letters identify the Working Group principally dealing with the subject (e.g. PA for Public Awareness), the first digit identifies the main project (e.g. IP Education Network), while the second digit refers to individual elements within that project (such as specific awareness-raising activities), where appropriate. In the case of activities or projects continuing from previous years, the code assigned in the 2016 Work Programme continues to be used. Conversely, if an activity from earlier years has been terminated, the corresponding code is not re-used; for that reason, gaps in the numbering sequence may appear.


The Observatory is made up of a network of public and private sector representatives which are concerned by and/or involved in the fight against infringements of IP rights. These stakeholders represent a wide range of perspectives and interests, including enforcement authorities, industry, small and medium-sized enterprises, consumer organisations, civil society, authors and creators.

The Observatory representatives collaborate in Working Groups that have been created corresponding to a number of different subjects:

Enforcement

IP in the Digital World

Legal and International

Public Awareness

Economics and Statistics

The members of these Working Groups provide valuable feedback and support for the Observatory’s projects, so that expert advice from all involved sectors can be taken on board.

2. WORKING GROUPS OF THE OBSERVATORY

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3. EXECUTION OF THE MULTIANNUAL PLAN IN 2017

As mentioned above, the Observatory has developed its own Multiannual Plan for 2014-2018. The present Work Programme specifies the activities that the Observatory will carry out in 2017 to implement the Plan.

During the development of this Work Programme and in evaluating new initiatives proposed from stakeholders priority will be assigned to the projects and activities which will make a greater contribution to the achievement of the goals that are at the heart of the Observatory Multiannual Plan, to the completion or follow-up of ongoing work and to activities that are considered important to the European Commission and national authorities in formulating policy initiatives.

The activities described below will be carried out in coordination and collaboration with other agencies and international organisations in order to avoid duplication of effort and use the limited resources in the most effective manner, and taking advantage of the expertise and input of members of the relevant Working Groups.

The projects and activities for 2017 are set out below according to the Working Group with which they are associated.

3.1.1 ACTIVITIES PLANNED FOR 2017 IN THE AREA OF PUBLIC AWARENESS

PA1. Targeting youth: following the intelligence developed as part of the qualitative and quantitative research presented in the Youth Scoreboard and to capitalise on the community built up as part of the Ideas Powered social media accounts, the Ideas Powered Facebook and Twitter accounts and the website will be continued and developed with a view to generate interest/exchanges, leverage support and multiply the messages/narratives and campaigns designed nationally on the basis of the Youth Scoreboard. The evolution of Ideas Powered will be discussed in the Public Awareness Working Group.

A second edition of the youth workshop will be organised in 2017 to reflect on 2016 results, review narratives, build opportunities to engage young opinion leaders to improve understanding of IP among their peers and to ensure follow up.

PA2. Support the deployment of awareness actions in Member States: following the results of the Youth Scoreboard and other studies as well as the establishment of relevant narratives for the younger generation, awareness initiatives will be supported for deployment and implementation in Member States with the support of national and regional IP offices, in line with the Office’s mandate to support the activities undertaken


by national authorities, the private sector and EU institutions in the fight against infringements of intellectual property rights. The projects implemented in 2016, following the grant scheme launched in 2015, will be thoroughly evaluated, and a new call for proposal will be launched which will incorporate lessons learnt and streamline projects’ objectives and content according the common narratives developed. Furthermore, national office initiatives will be supported through the existing cooperation schema. The evaluation of the proposed projects will be carried out with the highest possible degree of transparency and stakeholder involvement while respecting the strict EU financial regulation that applies to the Office.

PA3. Helping SMEs protect their IP rights: IPRs are essential business assets for SMEs, as shown by the firm-level IP Contribution Study published in 2015. However, few SMEs register IPRs for a variety of reasons, as shown by the SME Scoreboard. Besides, SMEs can be severely harmed by IPR infringement, as they often lack the appropriate resources and knowledge to protect and enforce their rights. On the basis of the results of the SME Scoreboard and the study of the valuation of IP assets (see ES10), specific follow-up actions or tools will be explored, notably to address information needs and IP diagnosis support of SMEs, in collaboration with the European Commission. The actions will supplement the existing reports and tools such as ACRIS, the country reports, and the surveys carried out for DG TRADE. PA6. Following the IP in Education study, the Observatory is creating a specialised IP Education Network made up of representatives of the Ministries of Education and specialised stakeholders with the aim of jointly developing appropriate resources and tools to facilitate IP education and awareness. The network is of a voluntary and informal nature and its first meeting was held in March 2016 in Alicante. To follow up on input received from the network, a dedicated project has been created to develop, inter alia, good practices which could serve as examples for education ministries that wish to embed IP in different learning areas/subjects of current or new school curricula as well as new, modern, “fresh” material by involving both teachers and students.

PA7. Repetition of IP Perception Study: in the second part of 2016 the Office carried out the field work for the repetition of the study about the knowledge of and attitudes towards IP among EU citizens, carried out for the first time in 2013. The results of this work will be published at the beginning of 2017.

3.1.2 ACTIVITIES PLANNED FOR 2017 IN THE AREA OF ENFORCEMENT

E1. Enforcement Database (EDB): 2016 was a consolidation year for this flagship tool with re-engineering started in order to adapt to the ever increasing number of users and volume of data exchange and to correct technical problems. In 2017, work will start to enable right holders to renew their Application for Actions through EDB and better support the work of enforcement authorities by improving alerts and suspicious cases

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messages. Work to create interoperability with WCO’s IPM system which was not possible to develop in 2016 due to the consolidation work mentioned above, will also start in the course of 2017. Efforts will be made to continue enlarging the number of enforcement authorities using the tool.

E2. Anti Counterfeiting Intelligence Support Tool (ACIST): Work will continue to complete the collection of data concerning detentions within the internal market by requesting the competent authorities to provide available statistical data in compliance with Article 5 of Regulation 386/2012. Furthermore, the possibility to connect ACIST with COPIS, thus enabling a regular flow of data on detentions carried out at EU borders, will be analysed.

E3. Data collection, analysis, reporting: In 2017, sectorial reports will be produced based largely on data available in ACIST, but also complemented by open source research and other data sources. Each report will be designed to support an associated knowledge building event (E3.1). The Office will also continue to produce border seizure trend reports and will work on an update of the joint Europol-EUIPO Situation Report on Counterfeiting in the European Union that was published in 2015 (E3.2). Finally, a mapping of national authorities dealing with IPR enforcement and of the databases they use EU will be carried out (E3.3).

E4. Special focus on online infringements: Europol and the Office have decided to expand the scope of their collaboration to include a special focus on tackling the problem of online IP crime. The grant agreement signed with the Office at the end of 2015 enabled to establish the Europol IP Crime Coordination Centre in 2016. In 2017, the Office will continue financing the activities of the Centre, on the basis of the current grant of 500 000 EUR, meant to increase information gathering and monitor trends in the field of online IP crime and related areas. The Office will be represented on the Advisory Board of the Centre as well. A specific item will be included in the agenda of all Enforcement Working Group meetings so that Europol can report on progress and Observatory representatives can provide their feedback and input (E4.1).

The Commission’s Communication “Strengthening Europe’s Cyber Resilience System and Fostering a Competitive and Innovative Cybersecurity Industry”, suggests that the Office, with the support of ENISA, and EC3 at Europol, the Commission will — in dialogue with private stakeholders — set up trusted channels for voluntary reporting of cyber theft of trade secrets. This in order to make it possible to compile anonymised and aggregated data at EU level. In the course of 2017, the Office will carry out preparatory work to analyse misappropriation of trade secrets through cyber means, with a view to taking a decision on whether to include a specific initiative in the Work Programme for 2018 (E4.2).


E5. Study on control mechanisms for ensuring the enforcement of Geographical Indications: The European Commission has requested the collaboration of the Observatory in an analysis of the implementation at Member State level of the controls foreseen by the GI regulations. The analysis, which will also look at best practices that would help controllers to better work together across the EU, was started in 2016 and should be published in the course of 2017.

E6. Reinforced cooperation: Due to the higher profile of IP activities and the large number of institutions and agencies with a common interest, an inter-agency Coordination Group on Infringements of IP Rights was set up in 2014 with representatives of other EU agencies, the European Commission and international organisations such as WIPO and Interpol. In January 2017, Europol will host a meeting of the group in which ongoing activities, projects and issues among those agencies that deal with IPR infringements will be discussed to avoid duplication of efforts and to identify new opportunities for collaboration. The intent in 2017 is to define a key project on which the group will concentrate during the year.

E7. Building Knowledge and Competences in IP Enforcement: Building on the successful events organised in the last years, two knowledge-building events in specific sectors (E7.1 and E7.2) will be developed in collaboration with Europol and Eurojust. The events will target enforcement authorities and involve relevant private stakeholders to highlight concrete examples. A hands-on training on techniques to investigate IP crimes, both offline and online (including digital infringement), will be organised in collaboration with CEPOL during the second half of 2017 (E7.3). Two regionally based workshops throughout the EU will be developed, targeting local judges, prosecutors, customs and police (E7.4 and E7.5).

E8. European Intellectual Property Prosecutors Network: Building on the conclusions from the workshops held in 2015 and 2016, specific initiatives will be undertaken in 2017 to promote stronger networking, knowledge building and experience sharing between European prosecutors involved in IP crime cases, in cooperation with Eurojust. A number of comprehensive case studies will be prepared in cooperation with the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) (E8.1).

E9. Virtual IP Training Centre: The Office will work together with CEPOL and in cooperation with the European Commission (DG TAXUD, OLAF, DG HOME) and other EU agencies (such as Europol) on the creation of the Virtual IP Training Centre for enforcement authorities. The Centre is an online platform which will grant EU enforcers (police, customs, market inspectors, etc.) with an unparalleled access to a comprehensive training resource covering IP rights, their infringement and enforcement, as well as to other relevant material and information such as the Observatory studies quantifying the impact of IP infringements.

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3.1.3 ACTIVITIES PLANNED FOR 2017 IN THE AREA LEGAL AND INTERNATIONAL

LI1. Case-law collection and analysis: One of the main tasks entrusted to the Office by Regulation 386/2012 is to improve knowledge on IP rights infringements in Member States. Article 5.1 of the Regulation on information obligations sets out that “[…] Member States shall, at the request of the Office or on their own initiative: […] (c) inform the Office of important case-law”. As a continuation of the work already carried out, the Office will collect relevant jurisprudence related to enforcement of IP rights rendered at national level in the EU Member States. Whenever possible, the activity will be implemented in collaboration with the national and regional IP offices.

LI2. Study on legislative measures related to online IPR infringement: the purpose of this fact-based, descriptive study will be to identify the available legislative measures to tackle online sales of counterfeit goods and online distribution of infringing content, and to understand the benefits and shortcomings in the implementation and applications of these measures. The study will be developed in 2017 on the basis of the already established terms of reference.

LI3. Report on trade secret litigation trends: Directive 2016/943 of 8 June 2016 on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure foresees a role for the Office, through the Observatory, in monitoring of the application of the legal text. Under Article 17(1) of the Directive, the Office is to prepare a report on litigation trends regarding the unlawful acquisition, use or disclosure of trade secrets pursuant to the application of the Directive. The report will be due by the end of the third year following the end of the transposition period. In order to better measure the impact of the Directive on trade secret litigation, in 2015 the Office established a subgroup to oversee the collection of data on trade secret litigation before the adoption of the Directive. The Observatory started collecting data with a view to producing a report in 2017/2018 on the volume of legal actions and damages awarded, thus establishing a baseline view of the situation before the adoption of the Directive. The elements to be analysed include levels of trade secret litigation in EU Member States, profiles of the parties involved in litigation, courts dealing with trade secret matters and duration of proceedings.

LI5. Study on the costs of enforcing IP rights: one of the reasons why SMEs do not own or use IP rights may be related to the costs associated with enforcement of such rights. Building on work carried out in 2016, the Office will analyse the costs faced by companies when enforcing their IPR, based on hypothetical cross-border cases involving trade mark, design or patent infringement taking place in different territories (LI5.1).

Furthermore, a mapping of existing mediation/arbitration services in the field of IP will be prepared as part of a feasibility study on the creation of a mediation service at EUIPO that the Office intends to carry out in the framework of its Strategic Plan 2020 (LI5.2).


Finally, a study on the possible benefits of IP specialised courts will be initiated in 2017. Study cases will be made to analyse existing specialised courts in Member States as well as experience in third countries (LI5.3).

LI6. Support the protection of IP rights outside the EU: The aim of this work stream is to cooperate with the European Commission’s DG TRADE on improving the protection of IP rights in third countries.

As the development of the “Anti-counterfeiting Rapid Intelligence System – ACRIS” has finished, 2017 will be an important year for the implementation of the system. The tool should not only be used by Enforcement Database users, but also associations and other actors helping the right holders enforce their rights abroad. The extent to which the information in the database can provide statistically meaningful results depends on the degree of utilisation of the tool by companies but also particularly DG TRADE as a main source of information for their work. Further developments in terms of usability will be done, and in particular the decision repository, once the possibility to publish this kind of data is clarified (LI6.1).

A network of IP experts in EU Delegations that deal with intellectual property matters was created in 2014. In 2017, the Office will continue to cooperate with DG TRADE to consolidate the network mainly by providing technical support to improve IP knowledge and exchange of information among its members (LI6.2). The network meets once a year.

In addition to the above activities, the Observatory will support the international EU-funded projects for which EUIPO is the implementing agency, including IP Key and ECAP projects, and the new programmes in India and Latin America, with input on issues related to IPR enforcement and infringement.

LI7. Approach to collecting data and information from Member States: Many of the studies mentioned above involve the collection of data or information from Member States. This data has to be supplied or verified by national authorities in order to be considered sufficiently reliable. Notwithstanding the obligation foreseen by Article 5 of Regulation 386/2012, experience has shown that this can sometimes present difficulties for Member States. The purpose of this activity is to identify these difficulties in consultation with Member States and to propose measures to be taken by the Observatory and national authorities that would produce improvements.

3.1.4 ACTIVITIES PLANNED FOR 2017 IN THE AREA IP IN THE DIGITAL WORLD

DW1. Help consumers to better differentiate legitimate from infringing websites: According to the IP Perception Study, 6% of interviewed citizens have purchased counterfeit goods as a result of being misled over the last 12 months. This means that

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each year, millions of citizens are misled while buying products online. In 2015, the Observatory launched a new work stream to develop initiatives to assist consumers to better differentiate legitimate from infringing sites, both for physical goods and digital products. A pilot project for a European Aggregator of Legal Offers was started in 2015 and finished in 2016 with the participation of four Member States. In 2017, the tool, now named agorateka, will be deployed to further Member States. A consumer-friendly guide on Frequently Asked Questions regarding copyright has been published in 2016 and will subsequently be updated.

DW2. Analysis of business models in copyright-based creative industries: Article 2.2(g) of the Regulation 386/2012 establishes that the Office shall “monitor the development of new competitive business models which enlarge the legal offer of cultural and creative content, and encourage the exchange of information and raise consumer awareness in this respect”. This is one of the areas that require further study through objective and independent research. As a first step, in 2015/2016, a test case was undertaken to simulate internet searches by consumers in several Member States for legal offers for music. Following the assessment of the results, in 2017 the test case may be extended to additional Member States. In addition, the possibility of extending it to other content types will be evaluated.

DW3. Research on business models most commonly used to infringe IP online: An independent data-driven study was launched in 2015 to assess and analyse specific techniques used for facilitating online IP rights infringements on a commercial scale. This independent research, finalised in 2016, provides an overview of the different infringing models used in the attempt to gain direct or indirect economic advantage. A taxonomic model and business model canvas was developed that allows for the classification of the already identified and possible future business models. As a second phase, in 2016, a study was carried out on a specific business model misdirecting internet traffic to IP infringing web shops under domain names purchased in bulk from expired/deleted domain names. An initiative for 2017 may be the creation of an interactive multilingual tool using the taxonomic matrix and business model canvas developed in the previous study to help enforcement authorities and right holders become more aware of business models (existing or new) with which they are faced.

DW4. The results of 2015 IP Youth Scoreboard indicate that the notion of online security can play a crucial role in communication strategies. The study indicated that a significant majority of youngsters would be ready to switch to legal sources if it would reduce a risk for their computers of getting infected with viruses or malware. Based on these insights the Observatory began, in 2016, a study on the correlation between piracy and malware and other “Potentially Unwanted Programmes” designed to deceive or defraud citizens. The study is expected to be finalized in 2017.


DW5. Orphan Works registry: In 2017, further promotion of the use of the Orphan Works database and improvements of its functionalities through additional releases is envisaged. The network of key beneficiary organisations and competent national authorities from all Member States will continue to be strengthened through coordination activities as well as further releases facilitating bulk uploads for the beneficiary organizations.

DW6. Feasibility analysis for the establishment of a Digital Deposit System (“Soleau” envelope) at EU level: In 2016, the feasibility of developing a digital platform enabling authors, inventors and other creators to upload their works to a central repository in a secure and confidential manner so as to keep evidence of the date of creation or invention was analysed. Building on this work, in 2017, the possibilities for creating a digital deposit system at EU level will be explored further.

DW7. It has been claimed by some that the new generic top-level domains (gTLD) introduced by ICANN have the potential to cause problems for trade mark owners who could be forced to choose between using resources to acquire new top-level domains for defensive purposes or taking no action and risking potentially damaging registrations by other parties. Following consultations with experts that took place in 2016, the Observatory will continue to evaluate whether it has a potential role in efforts to assess the existence and extent of such damage and to analyse the different rights protection mechanisms available.

DW8. In 2017 preparatory work related to the role of the Observatory in setting up a registry of out-of-commerce works, envisaged in the European Commission’s proposal for the modernisation of the EU copyright framework (published in September 2016) will be carried out.

3.1.5 ACTIVITIES PLANNED FOR 2017 IN THE AREA ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS

ES1. Quantification of infringement: This is a key workstream for the Observatory. Following the publication of several additional sectorial studies during 2016, including jewellery and watches, handbags and luggage, recorded music, spirits and wine, and medicines, additional studies will be published in 2017, in particular a study of counterfeit smartphones, in collaboration with the International Telecommunications Union (ES1.1).

Following the publication of the joint study with the OECD on international trade in counterfeit goods in April 2016 and the follow-up study of production versus transit economies, further joint EUIPO/OECD studies are planned for 2017 to exploit the high-quality data collected for the 2016 study. In particular, studies are planned in two areas: the online trade of counterfeit goods and the role of Free Trade Zones in counterfeit trade (ES1.2). Further joint studies will be defined by the EUIPO and OECD and will be submitted for input to the Working Group.

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These two streams of studies of counterfeit goods will reinforce and supplement each other.

In addition, EUIPO will, carry out studies of the extent and impact of infringement of digital content, such as music, film, TV programmes, streaming of events and e-books. This research will be carried out in collaboration with other organisations to the extent possible (ES1.3).

The ultimate goal of this workstream is to develop an objective assessment of the extent and impact of infringement across the EU, including not only the loss of sales and employment suffered by the affected industries, but also broader societal impacts such as the loss of tax revenue, enforcement costs borne by the public and private sectors, and other quantifiable effects.

Once the studies referred to in this section have been completed, a synthesis report on infringement quantification, combining the results of the sectorial and OECD studies with the studies of infringing business models (DW3, above) and the study on infringement of GIs carried out in 2016, as well as the relevant portions of the IP Perception and Youth Scoreboard surveys, will be published (ES1.4).

ES3. Study of open licensing: In 2016, the Observatory analysed the economic impact of public domain works in the film industry. This work may be expanded to other types of content in 2017, for example the value of information sources such as Wikipedia, or the value of open-source software, and to issues such as infringement or misuse of open source content.

ES6. Econometric analysis of IP Perception Study, IP Youth Scoreboard and SME Scoreboard data: The datasets from these studies contain a wealth of information about the attitudes of EU citizens and SMEs towards IP and IP infringement, coupled with demographic information about the respondents. In the reports published so far, this data was only analysed using descriptive statistics. This study aims to delve more deeply into the data to extract additional information from this material, for example which factors are related to a consumer’s propensity to infringe IP rights (including pricing and availability of legal content) or which factors determine an SME’s propensity to register IP rights. Preliminary analysis was carried out in 2016, and it will be developed further in 2017, including combining the survey data with other data sets.

ES7. Use of IPR bundles by European firms: The studies on trade secrets in Germany and the EU as a whole that were carried out in 2016 demonstrated that firms often use a combination of IP rights and trade secrets to protect their innovations. This study will explore further the use of such IPR bundles, using data from the Community Innovation Survey as well as data from the EUIPO, EPO and national and regional IP offices. Together with the trade secret study, this study will provide a comprehensive picture of the appropriability mechanisms employed by companies in the EU.


ES8. The link between IPR and innovation: In the past, studies have examined the role of patents as indicators of innovative activities. A few studies have also looked at the relationship between trade marks and innovation, and none have examined the role of designs in this context. Using the data from the CIS and those from EUIPO and national and regional IP offices, the link between those types of IPR (that is, trade marks and designs) and innovation would be examined in greater depth. This would provide another element in the overall picture of the economic value of IP rights.

ES9. Creation of a measurement framework (Satellite Accounts1) for EU creative industries: The purpose of this activity is to assess the feasibility of building an EU Satellite Account for the Creative industries and to examine the potential for integrating estimates of Intellectual Property (IP) infringement into National Accounts measurements. This analysis would build on prior uses of Satellite Accounts in introducing measurements to the National Accounts, including, where relevant, a focus on Creative industries legitimate output and infringement measurements, following, for instance, the work of UK Music and that of NESTA and DCMS on Creative Industry Economic statistics. As a starting point, a feasibility study will be carried out.

ES10. Valuation of IP assets: The purpose of this research will be to develop a methodology for valuing a company’s stock of trade marks and other IPRs by constructing an econometric model that could estimate the value of a company IPR based on observable characteristics of the company. This work could be based on the data from IP Contribution study, and would be coherent with the Commission’s earlier efforts in the context of the Expert Group on Intellectual Property Valuation of IP carried out in 2013 and 2014. This is especially relevant for SMEs for the purposes of insuring IP (against loss/theft) and securing finance. While surveys of brand values are published periodically by consulting firms, those surveys focus exclusively on the large, global brands. In carrying out this work, care will be taken to avoid conflating the value of the brand with the value of the associated trade marks. Part of this work will be covered by a study on mapping SME needs as regards IP on which the Office is embarking in cooperation with the Commission.

ES11. Measurement of KPIs: As from 2017 the Observatory will help the European Commission in measuring the KPIs related the MoU on the sale of counterfeit goods over the internet signed in June 2016.

1 - “Satellite Accounts” is the standard

technical terminology used to indicate the

type of measurement frameworks this

initiative intends to develop. See, for

example: https://stats.oecd.org/glossary/

detail.asp?ID=2385.

WORK PROGRAMME 2017


4.1 EVENTS

In 2017, the Observatory will continue to organise events to ensure that policymakers, enforcers and other relevant stakeholders are fully aware of relevant issues surrounding IP.

The main events planned for 2017 include:

Two seminars organised jointly with Europol and Eurojust: one to be held during the spring and one to be held during the autumn.

Two judges’ seminars, in May and September and a judges’ symposium in November.

A prosecutor’s network event during the autumn organised jointly with Eurojust.

Two regional enforcement seminars, in the spring, and one regional judges’ seminar, in February.

An international IP enforcement summit in June, organised in cooperation with the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection.

4.2 OBSERVATORY MEETINGS

According to Regulation (EC) 386/2012, the Observatory Plenary and its public representatives meet at least once a year.

The dates for the main Observatory meetings in 2017 are as follows:

4. OBSERVATORY MEETINGS AND CONFERENCES IN 2017

Meeting Location Date

Plenary meeting Alicante 27-28 September 2017

Public sector stakeholders Malta 28 February – 2 March 2017


4.3 ADVISORY BOARD MEETINGS

The Executive Director of EUIPO is assisted by an Advisory Board, which provides recommendations in relation to specific Observatory issues to ensure and guarantee progress and where appropriate, to suggest necessary improvements. Two meetings are foreseen for 2017:

4.4 WORKING GROUP MEETINGS

The Working Groups meet twice per year. The dates for the Working Group meetings in 2017 are shown below. Additional meetings can be convened if needed.


Advisory Board Brussels 28 March 2017

Advisory Board Alicante 26 September 2017


Enforcement 3-5 May 2017 28-30 November 2017

IP in a Digital World 3-5 May 2017 28-30 November 2017

Legal and International 3-5 May 2017 28-30 November 2017

Public Awareness 3-5 May 2017 28-30 November 2017

Economics and Statistics 3-5 May 2017 28-30 November 2017

WORK PROGRAMME 2017


Activity Article in Regulation 386/2012 or other legal basis

Public AwarenessYouth Action Plan 2.1 (a) (b) (d)

Support for awareness campaigns in Member States 2.1 (a) (b) (d)

Grant scheme for national awareness-raising initiatives 2.2 (f)

Helping SMEs protect their IP rights 2.1 (a)

IP Education Network 2.1 (a) (b) (d)

IP Perception Study repetition 2.2 (b)

EnforcementEnforcement Database (EDB) 2.1 (g), 2.2 (k)

ACIST 2.2 (b)

Data collection, analysis, reporting 2.2 (b)

Special focus on online infringement including grant to Europol 2.2 (o)

Study on control mechanisms for enforcement of GIs 2.1 (c)

Reinforced cooperation (Interagency Coordination Group) 2.1 (g) (h), 2.2 (l)

Building Knowledge and Competences in IP Enforcement 2.1 (e) (h), 2.2 (l)

European Intellectual Property Prosecutors Network 2.2 (l)

Virtual IP Training Centre 2.1 (e), 2.2 (l)

Legal and InternationalCase-law collection and analysis 2.2 (k), 5.1 (c)

Study on legislative measures related to online IPR infringements 2.2 (o)

Report on trade secret litigation trends Art. 17.1 in Trade Secrets Directive (2016/943)

Study on the costs of enforcing IP rights 2.2 (d)

Support the protection of IP rights outside the EU 2.1 (h), 2.2 (m) in conjunction with Art. 123(b)(2) EUTMR

Approach to collecting data and information from Member States 2.2 (a) (b) (c), 5.1 (b)

ANNEX 1: LEGAL BASIS FOR THE ACTIVITIES OF THE OBSERVATORY

Regulation 386/2012 entrusts EUIPO with a wide range of tasks relating to research, communication, spread of best practice, and support for enforcement of all types of intellectual property rights. The activities to be carried out under this Work Programme are all designed to comply with the mandate under which the Observatory operates. Accordingly, the table below lists the specific article of the Regulation that forms the legal basis for each activity or project listed in Section 3.


ActivityArticle in Regulation

386/2012 or other legal basis

IP in the Digital WorldHelp consumers to differentiate legitimate from infringing websites 2.1 (a) (d)

Analysis of business models in copyright-based creative industries 2.2 (g)

Research on business models most commonly used to infringe IP online 2.2 (a) (b)

Study on the correlation between piracy and malware 2.2 (d)

Orphan Works registry Art. 3(6), directive 2012/28

Feasibility and impact analysis for the establishment of a “Soleau” envelope digital system at EU level 2.2 (e)

Generic top-level domains 2.2 (o)

Economics and StatisticsQuantification of infringement 2.2 (d)

Study of open licensing 2.2 (g)

Econometric analysis of IP Perception Study, IP Youth Scoreboard and SME Scoreboard data 2.2 (b)

Use of IPR bundles by European firms 2.2 (c) (o)

Link between IPR and innovation 2.2 (c)

Satellite accounts for creative industries 2.2 (c) (d)

Valuation of IP assets 2.2 (c)

Measurement of KPIs 2.1 (b), 2.2 (b)

The events and meetings listed in section 4 are provided for in Articles 2.2 (i) and 4 of Regulation 386/2012.

WORK PROGRAMME 2017


Activity area 2017 budget (million EUR)

Public Awareness 1,025,890.00

Enforcement 4,137,235.42

Legal and International 396,192.00

IP in the Digital World 922,070.00

Economics and Statistics 928,843.00

Conferences and meetings 633,597.00

TOTAL 8,043,827.42

ANNEX 2: OUTLINE OF OBSERVATORY BUDGET FOR 2017

The budget for the Observatory is part of the overall EUIPO budget, and the detail is therefore contained in the EUIPO budget as approved by the Budget Committee. The table below summarises the draft 2017 Observatory budget by main area.


Work Programme 2017

Avenida de Europa, 4,E-03008 - AlicanteSpain

www.euipo.europa.eu

Documents

Work Programme 2017 - European Union Intellectual · PDF fileline of action 1: build a dynamic and ... appendix 3. balanced scorecard appendix 4. annual staff policy plan appendix