by Louise Kroon, NL
To ensure an application that can be used by different Member States that have a different work approach and national characteristics for the EPO, the ICANEPO project has organized various study visits over the past few months. On Tuesday the 12th of December 2023, the ICANEPO study visit to the Hague took place. Participants from Austria, the Netherlands, Greece and Portugal were present and engaged in an insightful and interesting day about the EPO in the Netherlands.
The day started with a visit to the Court of Justice in the Netherlands. The Court of Justice in the Hague is the only competent authority in the Netherlands to handle EPOs. After a brief presentation of the ICANEPO project and introduction of the application that will be developed, the Dutch colleagues from the Court presented their workflow for an EPO.
The participants also had the opportunity to visit the work floor and see the ‘EPO Cupboard’. The EPO is registered as a case and categorized accordingly in the domestic electronic case management system.
The day started with a visit to the Court of Justice in the Netherlands. The Court of Justice in the Hague is the only competent authority in the Netherlands to handle EPOs. After a brief presentation of the ICANEPO project and introduction of the application that will be developed, the Dutch colleagues from the Court presented their workflow for an EPO. The participants also had the opportunity to visit the work floor and see the ‘EPO Cupboard’. The EPO is registered as a case and categorized accordingly in the domestic electronic case management system.
Although the Netherlands handles a higher quantity of cases than e.g. Sweden, namely 250/350 per year, it is not at all close to the numbers of Austria. One main point of discussion, where national differences became apparent, was the big difference between amount of court fees for the EPO in Member States. In comparison to Sweden (euro 30), the Netherlands has a very high court fee. The height of the court fee is dependent on the amount of the claim. The example given was that for a claim by a natural person by for € 25 000 the height of the fee in NL is € 1 300. The Court estimated that in about 30% of the cases the court fees are not paid.
After the visit to the Court it was a brisk walk to the Ministry of Justice and Security of the Netherlands. Here two colleagues, one from the Ministry and one from the Ministry’s IT department, participated in a panel discussion about the experience and implementation of the e-Justice Regulation, of which the EPO is one of the procedures to be digitalized under this Regulation.
The final part of the day was dedicated to a visit to the Council of the Judiciary, a beautifully renovated building that used to be a bank in which the big vault doors are still in use. Here, a presentation was given introducing the Role of the Council for the Judiciary in the Dutch legal system. Furthermore, there was a focus on videoconferencing within the Dutch judicial system where there was specific attention to the situation pre-and-post Covid. The day was closed with an enjoyable social dinner in the city center of the Hague.
