Brussels, 5 March 2025
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 EU 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.
Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law, Michael McGrath, said: “Today’s first-ever draft adequacy decision for an international organisation follows close dialogue and intense work with the European Patent Organisation. We have concluded that the EPO’s modernised legal framework provides strong protection for personal data. The decision would benefit innovative entities across the EU, by facilitating essential data flows for patent applications and sets a precedent for similar decisions with other international organisations. We look forward to the feedback from the European Data Protection Board, Member States’ experts and the European Parliament.”
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.
Today, the draft adequacy decision will be transmitted to the European Data Protection Board for its opinion, as part of the adoption procedure.
Source – EU Commission