Francesco Mattina

Francesco Mattina, an Italian national, has been appointed as President of the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) by the Council of the European Union in December 2021 and officially started his presidential duties on 1st February 2022.

Educated as a lawyer with a degree in law from the University of Parma, Italy, he holds specialisations in European Union Law, from the European College of Parma, Italy, and in Intellectual Property Law, from the University of Alicante, Spain. Francesco Mattina joined the CPVO in 2013 after a first experience in the EU public sector as a senior legal advisor in industrial property at the European Union Intellectual Property Agency (EUIPO).
Since 2013, Francesco Mattina held various management positions at the CPVO.
From 2013 to 2017, he was the Head of the Legal Unit, providing legal advice to the former President in relation to the Community plant variety rights system and other legal matters such as staff regulations, financial regulation, procurement, public access to documents, and data protection. He also defended the CPVO’s position before its Board of Appeal and the Court of Justice of the European Union.

From 2017 until his current appointment, Francesco Mattina was Vice-President of the CPVO. In this role, he deputised for the President while keeping oversight of all legal matters of the Office. He also designed and implemented the international relations strategy of the Office and strengthened its communication, policy and external outreach activities.
Before joining the EU public sector, he managed contentious disputes in all major areas of intellectual property as an attorney-at-law admitted to practice before Italian national courts and the Court of Justice of the European Union. He served as partner in several national and international law firms based in Italy. Throughout his entire education and career, Francesco Mattina acquired a broad knowledge of intellectual property rights and litigation including plant variety protection.
Francesco Mattina was born in 1971. He speaks fluently Italian, English, Spanish and French and has solid notions of German language. He is married and has three children. His mandate as President of the CPVO has a duration of five years and can be renewed once.