Mr Paul A. C. E. van der Kooij, acting chairman of the Board of Appeal of the CPVO since 17 December 2006, has been reappointed as chairman by Council decision of 29 November 2012 for 5 more years. His new mandate will run from 18 December 2012 until 17 December 2017.
Mr van der Kooij has been a senior lecturer in intellectual property law at the University of Leiden (Netherlands) since 1980 and deputy judge at the district court of The Hague since 1991. He has written many articles and books in the field of intellectual property law, including works on the Community regulation on plant variety rights. He has been assisted by Mrs Saari Haukka as alternate chairperson since 15 October 2011.