As stated in our previous Annual Report, the initial signs of economic recovery and a slight increase, at the end of 2013, in the results of our primary tasks encouraged us to take an optimistic view of the future. In reality, however, the Benelux Office of Intellectual Property (BOIP) regrettably was faced with a further decline in the number of filings in 2014.

With the marked exception of trademark renewals (which rose), all indicators for our core activities declined this year. We are seeing considerable differences among the various countries, however. In the light of this situation we decided to undertake specific activities to stimulate the provision of information and the promotion of intellectual property among small and medium-sized businesses.

At the time of writing this document, the first few months of 2015 seem to be far more favourable although it is still too early to be able to detect a clear trend. A positive sign is the sharp increase in the number of filings submitted directly by businesses; this aspect is all the more striking as it has not led to a higher number of refusals on absolute grounds, which is a constant concern for our Registration and Legal Affairs departments.

Despite the difficult conditions in 2014, the BOIP undertook significant efforts to modernise its services. Although collaboration with our international partners has compelled the BOIP to adjust its original plans for 2014, we have in fact been able make considerable headway at various levels and in several important projects.

In January 2014 the launch of the e-filing system for designs marked the first milestone in a major IT programme covering both the Front and Back Offices that is being developed with the support of the Cooperation Fund of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM). The work has progressed steadily since then culminating in the recent launch of the e-filing system for oppositions; the new e-filing system for trademarks is due to be completed by the summer and the new Back Office in the autumn.

Other IT projects also required our internal attention, such as automated invoice processing, the standardisation of our customer database, an internal classification tool, etc. All these developments represent important steps towards achieving our goal of offering users a fully automated service point.

In the area of legal affairs the final two amending protocols of the Benelux Convention on Intellectual Property (the centralisation of the appeal procedure at the Benelux Court of Justice); the amendment of the opposition procedure and the implementation of administrative invalidity proceedings) were signed by the Committee of Ministers. The protocols will enter into force following approval by the three national parliaments. The execution of our primary tasks was also favourably influenced by our collaboration with the OHIM (Convergence Programme).

The BOIP moreover further expanded its activities beyond the Benelux borders: aside from the implementation of trademark law in the Caribbean Netherlands (the BES Islands), the registration of trademarks in Sint Maarten was entrusted to the BOIP. This further endorses the quality and reliability of our services, an achievement we can be proud of!

The putting into production of the new Benelux Patent Platform in Belgium in September marked a milestone in 2014 concerning Benelux cooperation on patents. The platform enables users to submit applications electronically and the Belgian Office to automate application processing. The Netherlands is due to follow this autumn and Luxembourg in 2016. This undeniably is a great success!

At the European level good progress was made in the discussions concerning the Trade Mark Package in 2014: the proposed revised text of the Harmonisation Directive and the Community Trademark Regulation were the subject of heated discussions, under the auspices of the Greek and later the Italian chairmanship.

The EU Trilogue finally reached an agreement in early 2015 under the Latvian chairmanship. The precise impact of the Trade Mark Package on the BOIP and Benelux users should be announced within a few weeks.

Lastly, I cannot refer to 2014 without mentioning the exceptional efforts that were carried out internally with a view to the entry into force on 1 January 2015 of the new Headquarters Agreement between the BOIP and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. This agreement, which enables internal tax and social systems to be set up, is a key element that will cement the international dimension and independence of our organisation.

Confidence in the future undoubtedly is one of the cardinal virtues of our organisation: the difficult times faced by the BOIP since the start of the financial crisis have not prevented us from carrying out our high ambitions of modernising our organisation and services for the benefit of users. And we'd like to remind our readers that this has all been carried out without raising any of our fees for more than a decade! In closing this 2014 Annual Report, I thus wish to maintain confidence in the future and would like to thank all our staff for their excellent work and for their perseverance.

Edmond Simon
Director General