Legal Advisors AD 5 (TA2f)

Community Plant Variety Office

The Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) is an independent EU Agency that was established by Council Regulation (EC) No 2100/94 on 27 July 1994. The CPVO is responsible for the management of the Community Plant Variety Rights System. This system provides protection with an intellectual property right for new plant varieties on European Union level. The mission of the CPVO is to deliver and promote an efficient Intellectual Property Rights system that supports the creation of new plant varieties for the benefit of Society.

For further information, please refer to CPVO’s website: www.cpvo.europa.eu.

The CPVO is organising a call for expressions of interest with a view to establishing 2 reserve lists: one for Legal Advisor – Intellectual Property (Profile A) and one for Legal Advisor - International Relations & CPVR Registry Affairs (Profile B).

Profile / Duties

Profiles

The CPVO wishes to recruit highly motivated and well qualified staff members who, under the authority of the Head of the Legal & Governance Affairs Unit, may be supporting the Unit and the Office in one of the two profiles described below. The agent must possess a law degree with knowledge in IP law. The agent must have a very good command of English (both oral and written) as most of the communication as well as the majority of the documents are drafted in that language.

Two reserve lists will be established in total: one for Profile A and one for Profile B described below.

These functions are aligned with the CPVO Strategic Plan 2022-2026 accessible here.

Duties

The Legal & Governance Affairs Unit of the CPVO provides legal advice and support to the President and to the other Units and services of the Office on all aspects of the Office’s work and infrastructure.

In this respect, the main tasks of the agent for the different profiles shall be:

Profile A: Legal Advisor – Intellectual Property 

•        Providing legal advice in relation to any of the application, grant, objection, nullity, cancellation, appeal and Court of Justice proceedings.
•        Providing legal advice on Plant Variety Rights (PVR) legislation and any other legal-related matters.
•        Drafting written pleadings and other procedural documents in relation to CPVR proceedings.
•        Defending the Agency’s position in the Board of Appeal cases or in front of the EU Courts.
•        Drafting and/or reviewing decision templates, operational procedures, implementing rules, guidelines and internal administrative instructions.
•        Verifying the legal correctness of decisions, opinions, and positions of the Office.
•        Contributing to the development of databases such as the case-law database.
•        Providing support in dealing with requests for public access to documents and confirmatory requests.
•        Legal research, analysis, and follow-up of case-law in the field of IP law.
•        Representing the Office before, and maintain contact with, various local, national, EU and international institutions, as well as dealing with applicants and their procedural representatives.

 Profile B: Legal Advisor for International Relations & CPVR Registry Affairs

• Analysing, preparing and drafting briefing and background notes, reports, terms of reference, legislative texts, guidelines, policy papers, studies, reports, presentations, and other complex texts relating to the activities of the Unit/Agency, in particular IP Law. 
• Support the preparation, the coordination and the implementation of EU funded projects/initiatives in close cooperation with the funding of EU-Institution/s, EU Agencies, international organizations, EU Member States, relevant stakeholders and potential third country beneficiaries; Draft working arrangements and cooperation plans and support the negotiations leading to agreements.
• Developing dialogue and strategic cooperation with the Agency’s external partners
• Where requested and in cooperation with other Units or services, support the organization and participate in conferences, project coordination meetings, expert meetings, workshops, visits, high level meetings, seminars in the related cooperation fields by conceptualising and implementing the objectives of these activities
• Oversee and coordinate legal document certification
• Strategic processing and management of CPVR applications and titles to ensure that they meet all legal requirements, ensuring that Registry’s records are accurate and up-to-date
• Develop and implement access to documents control Policies
• Managing and monitoring projects, and monitor subsequent implementation, evaluation and dissemination of results
• Performing other tasks assigned by the Head of Unit or direct supervisor and related to the Unit/Office’s activities

General Conditions

To be considered eligible for selection, the applicant must meet by the closing date of this call, the following formal requirements (equal for Profile A and B):

• Completed university studies of at least 3 years attested by a diploma relevant to the post;
• Be a national of a Member State of the European Union[1];
• Have a thorough knowledge of one of the languages of the European Union[2]  and a satisfactory knowledge of another;
• Entitlement to full rights as a citizen[3];
• Have fulfilled any obligations imposed by national laws concerning military service;
• Be physically fit to perform duties linked to the post[4].

Qualifications

If the candidate meets the formal requirements set out above, he/she will be assessed in view of a selection for an interview and written tests on the basis of the following criteria for Profile[5] A and B:

1. Essential criteria for Profile A - Legal Advisor Intellectual Property

Professional Experience

Please refer to the vacancy notice.

Additional Requirements

Advantageous for profile A:

• Knowledge of patent law and patent practice with a particular focus on biotechnologies
• Experience in the field of plant variety rights
• Experience in litigation in the domain of Intellectual Property Law, both in specialized Law Firms or other IP Institutions/EU Agencies.
• Experience in EU Law.
• Experience in proceedings for access to documents and/or in data protection.
• Knowledge of relevant databases such as e-Curia or any other IT tools for the management of legal proceedings, procedural documents, and registries.
• Ability to communicate effectively in any other EU official language as indicated in the application form.

Advantageous for profile B:

• Experience in the field of plant variety rights
• Experience in EU Law
• Experience in proceedings for access to documents and/or in data protection.
• Knowledge of relevant databases such as e-Curia or any other IT tools for the management of legal proceedings, procedural documents and registries.
• Ability to communicate effectively in any other EU official language as indicated in the application form.

Appointment

The successful candidate will be offered a contract in grade AD5 under Article 2f of to the Conditions of Employment of Other servants of the European Communities, subject to a nine-month probation period. The duration of the contract will be four years and may be renewed not more than once for a fixed period.

The place of employment is Angers (France), where the CPVO is based. For reasons related to the CPVO’s operational requirements, the chosen candidate will be expected to be available at short notice.

The job holder shall work in a multicultural environment where social dialogue between management and staff is regarded as vital. The CPVO is fully computerised and working time is based around flexitime and core working hours. The normal working week is 40 hours. The jobholder is expected to start as soon as possible.

Contractual Conditions

Work-life balance

We offer flexible working arrangements: CPVO allows its staff to work within a perimeter of 350 km and 4 hours of car from Angers, while respecting the provisions applicable to its working conditions.

Teleworking from abroad is also possible, with a maximum of days established per year, aiming at helping our staff manage their personal and professional commitments effectively.

For more information about our working conditions and why join the CPVO, candidates can consult our career page (here). 

Remuneration

Successful applicants who are offered a contract of employment will, on their entry into service, be placed in step 1 or step 2 of the AD 5 grade, according to the length of their professional experience. The basic net monthly salaries for Temporary Agents in grade AD 5, as of 1 January 2023, are:

·  Step 1: € 4.987,57 (without expatriation allowance) and € 5.996,16 (with expatriation allowance)

·  Step 2: € 5.174,78 (without expatriation allowance) and € 6.225,76 (with expatriation allowance)

·       In addition to the basic salary, staff members may be entitled to various allowances, in particular expatriation allowance, household allowance, dependent child allowance and education allowance. The applicable step and gross basic salary could be higher depending on the length of experience of the chosen candidate. Salaries are subject to tax at source but are exempt from national taxation. Deductions are also made for medical insurance, pension and unemployment insurance. Please note that the correction coefficient weighting for France is currently equal to 116,8.

Recruitment procedure

Important:

Candidates must clearly identify in their CV and Motivation Letter the profile to which they are applying.

If candidates apply for Profile A and B and the candidate is pre-selected for both, they will be invited to the interview and written test for both profiles.

Application will be excluded if the candidate fails to identify the profile(s) to which they are applying.

The selection procedure includes the following steps:

• Only duly completed applications (i.e. CV and Motivation letter) submitted electronically within the deadline will be taken into consideration;
• Each duly completed application will be examined with a view to establishing that the candidate meets all eligibility criteria;
• Eligible applications will be evaluated by the appointed Selection Committee based on selection criteria defined in this vacancy notice. Depending on the number of applications received, the Selection Committee may apply stricter requirements within the selection criteria noted above;
• The best-admissible candidates will be short-listed for interview and written tests;
• Interviews and written tests will be in English and by Visioconference;
• Candidates will be required to sit a written examination to test the knowledge specific to the post and there will be a computer-based testing to test general skills;
• During the interviews, the Selection Committee will examine the candidates' profiles and assess their relevancy for the post in question;
• Before or on the day of interviews candidates will be requested to present documents detailing citizenship, studies and professional experience, in particular:
- a copy of their identity card, passport or other official document specifying citizenship;
- a copy of their diploma certifying the required level of academic qualifications;
- documentary evidence of professional experience, clearly indicating starting and finishing dates.

Copies of these documents will be retained by the CPVO.

• The interviews are held by Visioconference and for that reason copies of these documents will be requested by email.
• If at any stage of the procedure, it were established that information in the application has been knowingly falsified, the candidate shall be disqualified from the selection process.
• The Selection Committee will place the most suitable eligible candidates^[6] on a draft reserve list. This draft will be submitted to the Appointing Authority (AIPN) for approval. The adopted reserve list will be valid will be valid for 24 months. The validity of this list may be extended.
• Each candidate will be informed by letter whether or not s/he has been placed on the reserve list. However inclusion of candidates on the reserve list does not guarantee recruitment.
• Prior to being offered a post, candidates on a reserve list may be required to undergo further evaluation by the CPVO (e.g. a second interview with the President and /or senior management of the CPVO).
• Inclusion on a reserve list does not imply any entitlement to employment in the CPVO.
• The AIPN (the President of the CPVO) will appoint the selected jobholder from the reserve list, taking into account the establishment of a gender balanced, geographically diverse organization.

Please note that:
• The internal proceedings of the Selection Committee are confidential and any contact with its members is strictly forbidden. Soliciting on behalf of a candidate can lead to immediate disqualification.
• For applications to be valid, candidates must be made through the CPVO electronic recruitment portal, which can be found on the CPVO web site: http://www.cpvo.europa.eu/main/en/home/about-the-cpvo/vacancies
• Applicants are requested not to attach any supporting documents at this stage, e.g. copies of ID cards, diplomas, evidence of previous professional experience, etc. Only candidates invited to an interview will be asked to present copies of these documents for verification. Applications will not be returned to candidates but will be kept on file by the CPVO in line with its data protection guidelines.
• Incomplete applications will automatically be excluded from the selection procedure.
• The time span between the closing date for the submission of applications and the end of the process to short list candidates for the interview may take several weeks.

^{[6] On the basis of the criteria listed under point 3 above}