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Commission launches process to allow free and safe data flows with the European Patent Organisation*
Today, the European Commission has started the process to allow data to flow freely and safely between the EU and EPO. For that purpose the Commission proposed the first-ever EU adequacy decision for an international organisation: the European Patent Organisation (EPO).
The Commission has the power to determine - on the basis of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - whether a country or an international organisation outside the EU ensures an adequate level of data protection (i.e. a level of protection for personal data that is essentially equivalent to the level of protection within the EU). On this basis, it may decide to launch the process to adopt an adequacy decision, which allows the free flow of personal data from the EU, to a third country or international organisation.
The draft adequacy decision - published today - reflects the Commission's assessment of the EPO's legal framework and data protection rules: the Commission finds that the EPO provides comparable data safeguards to those of the EU. Once adopted, the decision will enable EU innovative entities to transfer data to the EPO without additional safeguards.
Next steps
Today, the draft adequacy decision will be transmitted to the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) for its opinion, as part of the adoption procedure. The Commission will seek approval from a committee composed of representatives of the EU Member States. In addition, the European Parliament has a right of scrutiny over adequacy decisions. When this procedure is completed, the Commission can proceed to adopting the final adequacy decision.
The functioning of the adequacy decision will be subject to periodic reviews once it is in place. These checks will be carried out by the Commission together with European data protection authorities and, in this case, the EPO.
Background
The EPO is an international organisation that grants patents under the European Patent Convention. European patents under the EPO apply to its 39 contracting states, including all EU Member States and other Council of Europe members, thus reaching 700 million people in total. Through the organisation, inventors, researchers and companies worldwide can obtain protection for their inventions. By facilitating the exchange of data between the EU and EPO, an adequacy decision would support the patent protection process for European innovative entities and thus contribute to growth and competitiveness in the EU market.
The Commission has so far issued 15 adequacy decisions under the General Data Protection Regulation to: Andorra, Argentina, Canada, Faroe Islands, Guernsey, Israel, Isle of Man, Japan, Jersey, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Switzerland , the United Kingdom, the United States and Uruguay.
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* Updated on 5 March 2025, 14:24 CET