EUROPEAN PATENT CONVENTION 1973 - Table of Contents CONVENTION PART II - SUBSTANTIVE PATENT LAW Chapter III - Effects of the European patent and the European patent application Article 63 - Term of the European patent

Article 63 37 Term of the European patent

Art. 2, 167

(1) The term of the European patent shall be 20 years as from the date of filing of the application.

(2) Nothing in the preceding paragraph shall limit the right of a Contracting State to extend the term of a European patent, or to grant corresponding protection which follows immediately on expiry of the term of the patent, under the same conditions as those applying to national patents:

(a) in order to take account of a state of war or similar emergency conditions affecting that State;

(b) if the subject-matter of the European patent is a product or a process of manufacturing a product or a use of a product which has to undergo an administrative authorisation procedure required by law before it can be put on the market in that State.

(3) Paragraph 2 shall apply mutatis mutandis to European patents granted jointly for a group of Contracting States in accordance with Article 142.

(4) A Contracting State which makes provision for extension of the term or corresponding protection under paragraph 2(b) may, in accordance with an agreement concluded with the Organisation, entrust to the European Patent Office tasks associated with implementation of the relevant provisions.

37 Amended by act revising Article 63 EPC of 17.12.1991, which entered into force on 04.07.1997 (OJ EPO 1992, 1 ff).