The Committee of Member States’ Representatives to the EU (Coreper) voted by a majority on Wednesday 17 May against an extension of Christian Archambeau’s mandate as Executive Director of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).
The current Executive Director’s five-year term began on 1 October 2018 and is due to end on 30 September 2023.
In an ‘indicative’ vote only three delegations in Coreper would have supported the extension of Mr Archambeau’s mandate. 14 delegations would have opposed it, while 10 would have abstained (see EUROPE 13183/8).
On 7 December 2022, the Chairman of the EUIPO Management Board informed the EU Council of his decision not to submit to the EU Council a proposal to extend the term of office of the current Executive Director of the EUIPO for a further 5 years.
According to the options foreseen in the document obtained by EUROPE (https://aeur.eu/f/6WM ), the Council will send a letter to the EUIPO Management Board indicating that the majority required for the adoption of a decision extending the mandate of the current Executive Director cannot be reached in the Council. The letter will be prepared and submitted for approval by Coreper/Council as soon as possible.
The three candidates for the position of Executive Director, who could be proposed by the EUIPO Management Board, are Etienne Sanz de Acedo, Andrea Di Carlo and João Negrão. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)