[1] The EPO has also a branch in Rijswijk, Netherlands, near The Hague,[17][18] sub-offices in Berlin, Germany,[19] and Vienna, Austria, and an office for liaison with the EU institutions in Brussels, Belgium.

[20] At the end of 2019, the European Patent Office had a staff of 6 608 (with 3 675 based in Munich, 2 624 in Rijswijk, 227 in Berlin, 87 in Vienna and 3 in Brussels).

[21][non-primary source needed] The premises of the European Patent Office enjoy a form of extraterritoriality.

[24] Such consent is however "assumed in case of fire or other disaster requiring prompt protective action".

[24] The European Patent Office is directed by a president, who is responsible for its activities to the Administrative Council.

[32][non-primary source needed] More generally, the "management of the EPO is dominated by the delegates of the contracting States in the Administrative Council," these delegates being, according to Otto Bossung, primarily guided by their national interests rather than by supranational interests such as for instance the implementation of the EU internal market.

[37] Residents or nationals of such States may submit any documents subject to a time limit in an official language of that State[42] and there is a period of one month for filing a translation into an official language[43] or the document is deemed not to have been filed.

[54] According to Sir Robin Jacob, the members of the EPO Boards of Appeal are "judges in all but name".

The agreement, known as the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH), was signed by the presidents of the EPO and EAPO in Munich.

The EAPO president Saule Tlevlessova stated, "The signing of this bilateral PPH agreement opens a new page in the history of EAPO-EPO co-operation, and will serve to benefit applicants and our offices.

[clarification needed] Opstelten's intervention was criticised by a number of Dutch legal experts including Cedric Ryngaert, Professor of International Law in Utrecht, who considered the Minister's intervention to be unusual: "Basically he erodes the power of the Court.

"[68] Labour relations at the EPO during the presidency of Benoît Battistelli have been strained and marked by conflict with a noticeable escalation during 2014.

[69][70][71][72] Staff discontent has been attributed to Battistelli's style of management which, according to reports in the German newspapers Die Zeit and Die Welt, was perceived by staff as being unduly autocratic and unsuited to a European intergovernmental body such as the EPO.

The EPO staff union SUEPO said that a direct link between the suicide and the working conditions had not been demonstrated but that the Dutch Labour Inspectorate should be given the opportunity of investigating the matter.

[77] In June 2018, the German Federal Court of Auditors (German: Bundesrechnungshof) and financial experts criticized the planned establishment by the EPO of a fund, called "EPO Treasury Investment Fund" (EPOTIF), to manage 2.3 billion euros of its assets, the fund including risky financial products such as asset-backed securities, mortgage-backed securities, and credit default swaps.

[78][79][80][81] At the end of the 2010s and into the 2020s, a decline in the quality of patents granted by the EPO was reported and criticised, as the decline in the quality of searches and examinations at the EPO is seen as harmful to the industry (more invalid European patents granted means more legal uncertainty in the market).