92001E0534

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0534/01

by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(28 February 2001)

Subject: Working languages in the European Patent Office

The European Union believes in the principle that any individual can approach the Institutions in any one of the eleven official languages. The question of the working languages of the European Patent Office must be seen in this light.

Does the Council acknowledge that applications for patents submitted to the European Patent Office should be in the eleven official EU languages? If so, in what way does the Council guarantee that individuals and firms can submit patent applications in the eleven official EU languages? If not, why not?

Reply

(30 May 2001)

The Council has no powers in respect of the European Patent Office or the policy on language use which obtains there. The Office is not a European Union institution; it is part of the European Patent Organisation, which is an intergovernmental organisation set up by the Convention on the Grant of European Patents (European Patent Convention), an intergovernmental convention concluded in Munich in 1973.

The Council would refer the Honourable Member to its reply to his Question P-0762/01, which covers the same subject matter.