Article 136

1. The President of the Boards of Appeal and the chairpersons of the Boards shall be appointed, in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 129 for the appointment of the Executive Director, for a term of five years. They shall not be removed from office during this term, unless there are serious grounds for such removal and the Court of Justice, on application by the institution which appointed them, takes a decision to this effect.

2. The term of office of the President of the Boards of Appeal may be extended once for one additional five-year period, or until retirement age if this age is reached during the new term of office, after a prior positive evaluation of his performance by the Management Board.

3. The term of office of the chairpersons of the Boards may be extended for additional five-year periods, or until retirement age if this age is reached during the new term of office, after a prior positive evaluation of their performance by the Management Board, and after consulting the President of the Boards of Appeal.

4. The President of the Boards of Appeal shall have the following managerial and organisational functions:
(a) chairing the Presidium of the Boards of Appeal (“the Presidium”), responsible for laying down the rules and organising the work of the Boards;
(b) ensuring the implementation of the decisions of the Presidium;
(c) allocating cases to a Board on the basis of objective criteria determined by the Presidium;
(d) forwarding to the Executive Director the Boards' expenditure requirements, with a view to drawing up the expenditure estimates.
The President of the Boards of Appeal shall chair the Grand Board.

5. The members of the Boards of Appeal shall be appointed by the Management Board for a term of five years. Their term of office may be extended for additional five-year periods, or until retirement age if that age is reached during the new term of office after a prior positive evaluation of their performance by the Management Board, and after consulting the President of the Boards of Appeal.

6. The members of the Boards of Appeal shall not be removed from office unless there are serious grounds for such removal and the Court of Justice, after the case has been referred to it by the Management Board on the recommendation of the President of the Boards of Appeal, and after consulting the chairperson of the Board to which the member concerned belongs, takes a decision to this effect.

7. The President of the Boards of Appeal and the chairpersons and members of the Boards of Appeal shall be independent. In their decisions, they shall not be bound by any instructions.

8. Decisions taken by the Grand Board on appeals or opinions on questions of law referred to it by the Executive Director pursuant to Article 135 shall be binding on the decision-making instances of the Office referred to in Article 130.

9. The President of the Boards of Appeal and the chairpersons and members of the Boards of Appeal shall not be examiners or members of the Opposition Divisions, the Department in charge of the Register or Cancellation Divisions.