As communicated previously, the second mandate of Martin Ekvad as President of the CPVO ended on Tuesday 31 August 2021.
The recruitment process for the appointment of a new President is underway and may take several weeks. Under Article 42.3 of Regulation 2100/94 the Vice-President shall take the place of the President in cases where the President is absent or indisposed in accordance with the procedure laid down in the rules established, or the guidelines issued, by the Administrative Council pursuant to Article 36(1) of the same Regulation. Under Article 1 of the AC Guidelines on the procedure to replace the CPVO President in case of absence or indisposed, adopted on 1 April 2020, the rule that the Vice-President shall take the place of the President shall apply automatically.
Accordingly, Francesco Mattina, in his capacity of Vice-President, will take over all the President’s duties as of Wednesday 1 September 2021 until the appointment of the new President. This has no impact on business continuity.