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Administrative Committee

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The UPC is an international organisation with the following governing bodies:

  • The Administrative Committee
  • The Budget Committee

There is also an Advisory Committee to the UPC.

The Administrative Committee, amongst other things:

  • Appoints the judges;
  • Adopts the secondary legislation of the Court;
  • Amends inter alia the Rules of Procedure of the Court, the Financial Regulations, and the Table of Court Fees;
  • Adopts its own Committee Rules.

The Administrative Committee currently comprises representatives from each State having ratified the Protocol to the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court on provisional application (PPA) as well as observers. These observers include other EU Member States, the European Commission, the European Patent Office and observer user organisations (see list below).

Each State that is a member of the Committee has one vote. The Administrative Committee generally adopts its decisions by a majority of three quarters of the States represented and voting.

A chairperson is elected from amongst the members for a renewable term of three years. The Administrative Committee has elected at its 4th meeting on 8 February 2023, Mr Johannes Karcher (DE) as its Chairperson and Mr Paul van Beukering (NL) as its Deputy Chairperson.

Once the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPCA) will have entered into force, representatives from each State in which the UPCA is in force will be members of the Administrative Committee.

A list of all the representatives can be found below.

COMPOSITION OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE

Chairperson:
Mr Johannes Karcher (DE)
Deputy Chairperson:
Mr Paul van Beukering (NL)
  • AT: Austria
    Member:
    Ms Raphaela Tiefenbacher
  • BE: Belgium
    Member:
    Mr Geoffrey Bailleux
    Alternate member
    Mr Gunther Aelbrecht
  • BG: Bulgaria
    Member:
    Ms Vladia Borissova
    Alternate member
    Ms Iveta Istiliyanova
  • DK: Denmark
    Member:
    Ms Laila Lindemark
    Alternate member
    Mr Asbjørn Hæstrup Hansen
  • EE: Estonia
    Member:
    Mr Margus Viher
  • FI: Finland
    Member:
    Mr Antti Leinonen
  • FR: France
    Member:
    Mr Max Brunner
    Alternate member
    Mr Fabrice Claireau
  • DE: Germany
    Member:
    Mr Christian Wichard
    Alternate member
    Mr Johannes Karcher
  • IT: Italy
    Member:
    Mr Sem Fabrizi
    Alternate member
    Mr Tommaso Andria
  • LU: Luxembourg
    Member:
    Mr Jean Olinger
    Alternate member
    Mr Nicola Schreiner
  • NL: Netherlands
    Member:
    Mr Paul van Beukering
    Alternate member
    Ms Marja van der Sluis
  • SI: Slovenia
    Member:
    Ms Daša Vidmar Mikšić
    Alternate member
    Ms Tanja Trtnik
  • SE: Sweden
    Member:
    Ms Louise Petrelius
  • Czech Republic (CZ)
  • Hungary (HU)
  • Ireland (IE)
  • Latvia (LV)
  • Lithuania (LT)
  • Poland (PL)
  • Portugal (PT)
  • Slovakia (SK)
  • Spain (ES)

Unified Patent Court:

President of the Court of Appeal and President of the Court of First Instance, assisted by other members of the Presidium and by officials and staff of the Unified Patent Court.

Chairperson of the Budget Committee:

Mr Bruno Leboullenger (FR)

Chairperson of the Advisory Committee:

Mr Willem Hoyng

  • European Commission;
  • European Patent Office;
  • European Patent Lawyers Association (EPLAW);
  • European Patent Litigators Association (EPLIT);
  • The Institute of Professional Representatives before the European Patent Office (epi) ;
  • BusinessEurope.