Quality indicators

Customer satisfaction

The EPO monitors customer satisfaction by running regular quantitative surveys with independant research institutes. Here below, the top results of these EPO surveys¹.

Customer satisfaction with search and examination services1	2015	2016	2017
% satisfied or very satisfied	79%	79%	80%
% average	17%	17%	16%
% not satisfied	4%	4%	4%

Customer satisfaction with patent administration services 1	2015	2016	2017
% satisfied or very satisfied	80%	87%	89%
% average	14%	9%	8%
% not satisfied	6%	4%	3%

• ^1.Every year, the EPO carries out customer satisfaction surveys on its search, examination and patent administration services. More background information on these surveys: 

• Search and examination services (PDF, 421 KB)
• Patent administration (PDF, 524 KB)

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Timeliness of patent grant procedure

Timeliness		2016	2017
Search timeliness (Early Certainty from Search)2	All searches (in months)	5.1	4.8
Examination timeliness (Early Certainty from Examination)3	European examination (in months)	23.3	22.1
Duration of opposition procedure4	All oppositions (in months)	24.8	22.4
% of international searches on-time5		94.9%	96.5%
Time to accelerated examination action6		3.1	3.1

• ^2. Median value for all searches calculated from date of receipt at the EPO to dispatch of search report.
• ^3. Median value calculated from valid examination request to dispatch of examiner's intention to grant.
• ^4. Median value calculated from expiry of opposition filing period to date of opposition decision.
• ^5.Percentage of PCT Chapter 1 international searches completed in time for publication along with the application (A1 publication).
• ^6. Median time in months calculated from the examination procedure start date to examiner's first communication or decision to grant.

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Timeliness of customer services

The EPO has set up Customer Services helpdesk and Customer Relationship Management System to handle users' queries.

• More information on the EPO's Customer Service Charter

		2016	2017
Timeliness of response to telephone enquiries	Calls to Customer services answered within 20 seconds	98%	97%
	Calls to EPO switchboards answered within 20 seconds	99%	99%
Resolution of customer services enquiries (7)		89%	91%

^7. Within 2 working days calculated in elapsed working hours (2 days = 16hrs).

Complaints ⁸

		2016	2017
Complaints registered		449	334
% breakdown by issue
	Examiner products and services	37%	46%
	Patent administration products and services	25%	15%
	Other products and services	38%	39%
% registered online		56%	56%
% complaints replied to within 20 business days8		95%	83%

^8. More information on the EPO's complaints procedure.