Munich, 1
March 2022
In these gravest of times, the thoughts of everyone at the
European Patent Office are with all those affected by the ongoing military
action in Ukraine. As a
visible sign of our grief and solidarity, all flags have been taken down from
outside the EPO’s buildings at all sites since last Friday midday.
Our Office was founded in the
spirit of European and international co-operation. We stand for peace, progress
and prosperity, with staff drawn from across the 38 contracting states of the
European Patent Convention.
As citizens of Europe, we stand in
solidarity with all those suffering from the appalling violence in Ukraine and
all refugees seeking safety in other countries. Accordingly, the Office’s
association for social activities – the Amicale – will be organising aid
efforts to help those affected. Our staff will be given the opportunity to
provide voluntary contributions to aid organisations and the Office itself will
also provide a direct contribution so that our collective efforts have the
greatest possible positive impact. Our aim will be to ensure that the aid
reaches all those affected, whether in Ukraine, in the neighbouring countries
or those seeking safety, in particular in our host countries.
As
an institution, we are also discussing the impact of the present crisis on our
co-operation activities in the region. An immediate decision has been taken to
freeze our co-operation activities with the national patent offices of the
Federation of Russia and of Belarus, as well as to put on hold our co-operation
activities with the Eurasian Patent Organisation. Looking ahead, we will assess
and debate other possible measures and consequences with our 38 Member States, extension
states and observers in preparation of the next Administrative Council meeting
on 22 March.
In
the days and weeks ahead, every effort must be put into promoting open and
genuine dialogue as the right path to restoring lasting peace in Europe.