Report of the Disciplinary Committee


P. Rosenich (LI), ChairP. Rosenich (LI), Chair


The annual Disciplinary Committee meeting was held in Malaga as a physical meeting in advance to the Council Meeting C93 to safe costs and travel from 20 to 21 October 2022.

Among others, the following topics were discussed during the meeting:

  • DC member for Italy
    • The DC member of Italy stopped his activity at DC and withdraw from DC in view of retirement and for that reason DC requests Council to fill the emptied position urgently.
  • New Member State Montenegro- the DC waits for the proposal from the EPO President and expect DC-appointment.
  • Decision of the DC recommendation in re-file inspection for the epi President and for the EPO President based on a request of the UK DC member John Gray in view of DBoA-Decision D2/20
    • New possibility of file inspection for Presidents during the procedure and before Appeal.
  • New practise after discussion with epi President Francis Leyder and the representative of the EPO President Hans-Christian Haugg at the DC meeting in order to assist DC in deciding about practical questions flowing out of DC recommendation to DC chambers in re-file inspection. Result:
    • File inspection through the epi Case Management System and the existing login for the epi President.
    • Postal delivery of official file parts to the EPO President on his request.
  • Statistics of DC cases 2020-2022 and 2011-2013 show that the DC works efficient and even better now and the epi members “behave better” than in the past.

Statistics of current DC Work 2020-2022 (to be compared with 2011-2013)

Statistics of past DC work (10 years ago)

The following information was additionally stated:

  • The Disciplinary Committee is fully prepared to judge about epi members acting before the UPC
  • The DC is within budget
  • Due to the temporary leave of Vernessa Pröll, the Deputy Registrar, Sadia Liebig is holding successfully the position alone and hence DC has smooth business as usual. The support of the Legal Advisor Nicole van der Laan (DC’s former Registrar) is equally appreciated and DC thanks for it.
  • The new Council term starts up from 2023 – the DC asks Council to please be prepared to soon appoint a new DC in spring 2023 and hope that Council supports DC with the same experienced members as currently or equal alternatives.
  • The President of epi Francis Leyder reminded DC that budget for training is provided and DC plans to happily take advantage of this in 2023.
  • As a matter of long standing practise – and as long as the Chair of the Disciplinary Board does not take a case from the DC into the DB – short delays in judgements (beyond 15 months) are excused. Due to the pandemic sometimes chambers had difficulties to decide on time. Generally, DC chambers try to be as fast as possible.


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