Rules Relating to Fees (created 24.02.2025) Flashcards
Article 1
General
The following shall be levied in accordance with the provisions contained in these Rules:
(a) fees due to be paid to the EPO as provided for in the Convention and in the Implementing Regulations and the fees and expenses which the President of the Office lays down pursuant to Article 3, paragraph 1;
(b) fees and expenses pursuant to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), the amounts of which may be fixed by the Office.
Article 2
Fees provided for in the Convention and in the Implementing
Regulations
(1) The fees due to be paid to the Office under Article 1, unless otherwise provided in paragraph 2, shall be as follows:…
**Article 2 covers fees:
**1. Filing fee
1a. Additional fee (pages)
1b. Additional fee (div. applications)
2. Search fee
3. Designation fee
4. Renewal fees
5. Additional fee (belated payent of renewal fee)
6. Exam fee
7. fee for grant
(no 8-9)
10. Opposition fee
10a. Limitation of revocation fee
11. Fee for appeal
11a. Fee for petition for review
12. Fee for further processing
13. Fee for re-establishment of rights/fee for requesting restoration/fee for reinstatement of rights
14. Conversion fee
14a. Fee for late furnishing of a sequence listing
15. Claims fee
16. Fee for the awarding of costs
(no 17)
18. Transmittal fee for an international application
19. Fee for the preliminary examination of an international application
20. Fee for a technical opinion
21. Protest fee
22. Review fee
Article 3
**Fees, expenses, and prices laid down by the President of the Office
**
(1) The President of the Office shall lay down the amount of the administrative fees provided for in the Implementing Regulations and, where appropriate, the amount of the fees and expenses for any services rendered by the Office other than those specified in Article 2.
(2) He shall also lay down the prices of the publications referred to in Articles 93, 98, 103, and 129 of the Convention.
(3) The amounts of the fees provided for in Article 2 and of the fees and expenses laid down in accordance with paragraph 1 shall be published in the Official Journal and on the website of the EPO.
Article 4
Due date for fees
(1) Fees in respect of which the due date is not specified in the provisions of the Convention or of the PCT or of the Implementing Regulations thereto shall be due on the date of receipt of the request for the service incurring the fee concered.
(2) The President of the Office may decide not to make services within the meaning of paragraph 1 dependent upon the advance payment of the corresponding fee.
Article 5
Payment of fees
(1) The fees due to the Office shall be paid in euro by payment or transfer to a bank account held by the Office.
(2) The President of the Office may allow other methods of paying fees than those set out in paragraph 1.
Article 6
Particulars concering payments
(1) Every payment must indicate the name of the person making the payment and must contain the necessary particulars to enable the Office to establish immediately the purpose of the payment.
(2) If the purpose of the payment cannot be immediately established, the Office shall require the person making the payment to notify it in writing of this purpose within such period as it may specify. If he does not comply with this request in due time, the payment shall be considered not to have been made.
Article 7
Date to be considered as the date on which payment is made
(1) The date on which any payment shall be considered to have been made to the Office shall be the date on which the amount of the payment or of the transfer is actually entered in a bank account held by the Office.
(2) Where the President of the Office allows, in accordance with the
provisions of Article 5, paragraph 2, other methods of paying fees than
those set out in Article 5, paragraph 1, he shall also lay down the date on
which such payments shall be considered to have been made.
(3) Where, under the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2, payment of a fee
is not considered to have been made until after the expiry of the period in
which it should have been made, it shall be considered that this period has been observed if evidence is provided to the Office that the person who made the payment fulfilled one of the following conditions in a Contracting
State within the period within which the payment should have been made:
(i) he effected the payment through a banking establishment;
(ii) he duly gave an order to a banking establishment to transfer the
amount of the payment.
(4) The Office may request the person who made the payment to
produce evidence as to the date on which a condition according to
paragraph 3 was fulfilled within a period to be specified by it. If he fails to comply with this request or if the evidence is insufficient, the period for
payment shall be considered not to have been observed.
Article 8
Insufficiency of the amount paid
A time limit for payment shall in principle be deemed to have been
observed only if the full amount of the fee has been paid in due time. If the wfee is not paid in full, the amount which has been paid shall be refunded after the period for payment has expired.
The Office may, however, in so far as this is possible within the time remaining before the end of the period, give the person making the payment the opportunity to pay the amount lacking.
It may also, where this is considered justified, overlook any small amounts lacking without prejudice to the rights of the person making the payment.
Article 9
Refund of search fees
(1) The search fee paid for a European or supplementary search shall be refunded if the EP patent application is withdrawn or refused or deemed to be withdrawn at a time when the Office has not yet begun to draw up the search report.
(2) Where the European search report is based on an earlier search report prepared by the Office on an application whose priority is claimed or an earlier application within the meaning of Article 76 of the Convention or of Rule 17 of the Convention, the Office shall refund to the applicant, in accordance with a decision of its President, an amount which shall depend on the type of earlier search and the extend to which the Office benefits from the earlier search report when carrying out the subsequent search.
Article 10
Refund of the fee for a technical opinion
An amount of 75% of the fee for a technical opinion under Article 25 of the Convention shall be refunded if the request for a technical opinion is withdrawn at a time when the Office has not yet begun to draw up the technical opinion.
Article 11
Refund of the examination fee
The examination fee provided for in Article 94, paragraph 1, of the Convention shall be refunded:
(a) in full if the European patent application is withdrawn, refused or
deemed to be withdrawn before the substantive examination has begun;
(b) at a rate of 50% if the European patent application is withdrawn after
substantive examination has begun and
- before expiry of the time limit for replying to the first invitation under Article 94, paragraph 3, of the Convention issued by the Examining Division proper or,
- if no such invitation has been issued by the Examining Division, before the date of the communication under Rule 71, paragraph 3, of the Convention.
Article 12
Refund of insignificant amounts
Where too large a sum is paid to cover a fee, the excess shall not be refunded if the amount is insignificant and the party concerned has not expressly requested a refund.
The President of the Office shall determine what constitutes an insignificant amount.
Article 13
Termination of financial obligations
(1) Rights of the Organisation to the payment of a fee to the European Patent Office shall be extinguished after four years from the end of the calendar year in which the fee was due.
(2) Rights against the Organisation for the refunding by the European Patent Office of fees or sums of money paid in excess of a fee shall be extinguished after four years from the end of the calendar year in which the right arose.
(3) The period laid down in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be interrupted in the case covered by paragraph 1 by a request for payment of the fee and in the case covered by paragraph 2 by a reasoned claim in writing. On interruption it shall begin again immediately and shall end at the latest six years after the end of the year in which it originally began, unless, in the meantime, judicial proceedings to enforce the right have begun; in this case the period shall end at the earliest one year after the judgment enters into force.
(4) The President of the European Patent Office may waive action for the enforced recovery of any sum due if the sum to be recovered is minimal or if such recovery is too uncertain.
Article 14
Reduction of fees
(1) The reduction laid down in Rule 7a, paragraphs 1 and 3, of the Convention shall be 30% of the relevant fee.
(2) Where the European Patent Office has drawn up an international preliminary examination report, the examination fee shall be reduced by 75%. If the report was established on certain parts of the international application in accordance with Article 34, paragraph 3(c), PCT, the fee shall
not be reduced if subject-matter not covered by the report is to be examined.
(3) If more than one reduction applies to the same fee for the same application, the reductions shall be calculated sequentially.
Article 15
Entry into force
These Rules shall enter into force on 20 October 1977.
DONE at Munich, 20 October 1977
For the Administrative Council
The Chairman
Amended by decision of the Administrative Council of 7 December 2006 (CA/D 11/06)
