The Administrative Council of the Eurasian Patent Organization (EAPO) held two meetings in 2023: the forty-second (thirteenth extraordinary) meeting on May 18, 2023, and the forty-third (thirtieth ordinary) meeting on December 5–7, 2023.

The EAPO Administrative Council meetings were held in a hybrid format. They were attended by delegations from all EAPO Member States: the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. A representative of the World Intellectual Property Organization took part in the meetings as an observer.

The meetings were chaired by Ata Annaniyazov, Plenipotentiary Representative of Turkmenistan on the Administrative Council, Head of the State Intellectual Property Service of the Ministry of Finance and Economy of Turkmenistan.

The meetings discussed the EAPO’s current activities and its further development.

Forty-second (thirteenth extraordinary) meeting of the EAPO Administrative Council

The forty-second (thirteenth extraordinary) meeting of the EAPO Administrative Council approved the EAPO’s annual report for 2022 and adopted the EAPO Development Program for 2023–2028.

In addition, it approved a series of EAPO regulatory legal acts on various aspects of the organization’s activities.

In particular, the Procedure for Electronic Document Exchange within the Common Workflow between the Eurasian Patent Office and the National Patent Offices of the Eurasian Patent Convention Contracting States is worth noting. Its purpose is to expand the electronic interaction between the Eurasian Patent Office (Eurasian Office) and the national patent offices of the Eurasian Patent Convention (EAPC) Contracting States.

The approval of the Provisions on Eurasian Patent Office Internships and Fellowship Programs by the EAPO Administrative Council was quite important for the creation of a training system for the national patent offices of the EAPC Contracting States, as it opened the door to specialists eager to participate in both short-term and long-term internships and scholarship programs.

The amendments to the Eurasian Patent Office Staff Employment Regulations approved by the EAPO Administrative Council were focused on the further improvement of the Eurasian Office’s staff policy.

Based on long-standing practice, the EAPO Administrative Council also decided to award the V.I. Blinnikov Gold Medal for Promoting Invention and Patent Practice to representatives of the EAPC Contracting States, namely:

– Uladzimir Rabavolau, Director General of the National Intellectual Property Center (Republic of Belarus), for his contribution to the development of patenting in the Eurasian region

– Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics (Republic of Belarus) for contribution to the development of inventive activity

– Kuttubek Isakov, Candidate of Technical Sciences, Acting Professor of the Organization of Transportation and Transport Management Department of Razzakov Kyrgyz State Technical University (Kyrgyz Republic), for contribution to the development of inventive activity

– Elena V. Zheltova, Candidate of Chemical Sciences, R&D Director
of Shchelkovo Agrochem JSC (Russian Federation), for contribution to the development of inventive activity

– Mamadjon Safarov, Candidate of Technical Sciences, Associate Professor, Director of the R&D Center for Innovative Technologies and the Mechanization of Agriculture of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan (Republic of Tajikistan), for contribution to the development of inventive activity

– Abuali ibn Sino Tajik State Medical University (Republic of Tajikistan) for contribution to the development of inventive activity

Forty-third (thirtieth ordinary) meeting of the EAPO Administrative Council

The forty-third (thirtieth ordinary) meeting of the EAPO Administrative Council adopted amendments to the EAPO budget for 2023 and the EAPO budget for 2024.

The EAPO Administrative Council additionally approved a series of amendments and addenda to EAPO regulatory legal acts aimed at improving the Eurasian patent procedure and ensuring the EAPO’s financial stability.

In particular, the Administrative Council approved:

– addenda and amendments to Part I. Inventions of the Patent Regulations under the EAPC

– amendments and addenda to Part II. Industrial Designs of the Patent Regulations under the EAPC

– amendments to the Statute on Fees for legally significant and other actions performed in relation to Eurasian patent applications and Eurasian patents

– amendments to the Statute on Fees for legally significant and other actions performed in relation to Eurasian design applications and Eurasian design patents

To improve the status of the Pharmaceutical Register of the Eurasian Patent Office, the EAPO Administrative Council approved the Regulations on the Eurasian Pharmaceutical Register. The Regulations provide for the possibility of recognizing information contained in the Eurasian Pharmaceutical Register in the EAPC Contracting States as official information to be used as evidence of the protection of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), the methods of their preparation, and their medical application by Eurasian and (or) national patents.

The meeting of the EAPO Administrative Council paid specific attention to the implementation of projects of particular importance for the development of digital interaction between the Eurasian Office and national patent offices of the EAPC Contracting States. Thus, the EAPO Administrative Council recommended that, from 2024, the Eurasian Office and the national patent offices of the EAPC Contracting States should begin the joint implementation of projects in the following areas:

– on the exchange of information obtained from industrial property registers

– on filing of applications for Eurasian patents through the national patent offices of the EAPC Contracting States in electronic form

– on regular transmission to the Eurasian Office of information on licenses and other agreements registered with the national patent offices of the EAPC Contracting States in respect of Eurasian patents for inventions and industrial designs in electronic form

– on the exchange of patent information, including within the development of the CISPATENT project

– on the use of artificial intelligence technologies in the field of intellectual property

– on the joint use of information system components