DG III, DG IV

Directorate Generals are the departments of the European Commission. DGs used to be numbered, thus DG III was the old title of the Enterprise and Industries Directorate, DG IV the Competition Directorate. Although the number-titles have been dropped, out of habit, experienced competition lawyers still often refer to the Competition Directorate as DG IV. The European Patent Board(s) of Appeal are organically part of the Enterprise and Industries Directorate, although a pending restructuring is intended to make them independent of the European Commission.

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