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of 29 November 2000[1]
(extract)
Preamble
THE CONTRACTING STATES TO THE EUROPEAN PATENT CONVENTION,
CONSIDERING that the co-operation of the countries of Europe on the basis of the European Patent Convention and the single procedure for the grant of patents thereby established renders a significant contribution to the legal and economic integration of Europe,
WISHING to promote innovation and economic growth in Europe still more effectively by laying foundations for the further development of the European patent system,
DESIRING, in the light of the increasingly international character of the patent system, to adapt the European Patent Convention to the technological and legal developments which have occurred since it was concluded,
HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS:
The European Patent Convention shall be amended as follows:
...
(1.
The following Articles have been inserted :
2.
The following Articles have been amended:
Articles 11, 14, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 33, 35, 37, 38, 42, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 60, 61, 65, 67, 68, 69, 70, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 86, 87, 88, 90, 92, 93, 94, 97, 98, 99, 101, 103, 104, 105, 106, 108, 110, 115, 117, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 127, 128, 129, 130, 133, 134, 135, 137, 138, 140, 141, 150, 151, 152, 153 and 164.
3.
The following Articles have been deleted:
...
(1.
and
Section I of the Protocol on the Centralisation of the European Patent System and on its Introduction (Protocol on Centralisation).
2.
Insertion of the Protocol on the Staff complement of the European Patent Office at The Hague (Protocol on Staff Complement).)
New text of the Convention
The Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation is hereby authorised to draw up, at the proposal of the President of the European Patent Office, a new text of the European Patent Convention. In the new text, the wording of the provisions of the Convention shall be aligned, where necessary, in the three official languages. The provisions of the Convention may also be renumbered consecutively and the references to other provisions of the Convention may be amended in accordance with the new numbering.
Article 1, items 4-6 and 12-15, Article 2, items 2 and 3 and Articles 3 and 7 of this Revision Act shall be applied provisionally.
Article 7[3]
Transitional provisions
The revised version of the Convention shall apply to all European patent applications filed after its entry into force, as well as to all patents granted in respect of such applications. It shall not apply to European patents already granted at the time of its entry into force, or to European patent applications pending at that time, unless otherwise decided by the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation.
Entry into force[4]
The revised text of the European Patent Convention shall enter into force two years after the fifteenth Contracting State has deposited its instrument of ratification or accession, or on the first day of the third month following the deposit of the instrument of ratification or accession by the Contracting State taking this step as the last of all the Contracting States, if this takes place earlier.
The Government of the Federal Republic of Germany shall draw up certified true copies of this Revision Act and shall transmit them to the governments of the Contracting States and of the States able to accede to the European Patent Convention under Article 166, paragraph 1.
The Government of the Federal Republic of Germany shall notify the governments referred to in paragraph 1 concerning:
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Plenipotentiaries authorised thereto, having presented their Full Powers, found to be in good and due form, have signed this Revision Act.
DONE at Munich this twenty-ninth day of November two thousand in a single original in the English, French and German languages, the three texts being equally authentic. This original text shall be deposited in the archives of the Federal Republic of Germany.
[1] Under Article 8(1) of the Revision Act, the revised text of the European Patent Convention entered into force on 13 December 2007 for all the then 32 EPC contracting states (OJ EPO 2008, 1)
[2] By decision of 28 June 2001 the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation adopted the new text of the EPC (see OJ EPO 2001, Special edition No. 4, p. 55).
[3] See decision of the Administrative Council of 28 June 2001 on the transitional provisions under Article 7 of the Act revising the European Patent Convention of 29 November 2000, p. 637.
[4] Under Article 8(1) of the Revision Act, the revised text of the European Patent Convention entered into force on 13 December 2007 for all the then 32 EPC contracting states (OJ EPO 2008, 1).