161

The applicant has to decide in the European phase for which EPC contracting states he wishes to obtain patent protection by means of a European patent (see point 215). He may choose from among all the EPC contracting states that were contracting states to both the EPC and the PCT on the date of filing of the international application (see points 7, 159). At the same time, he must decide for which extension states he seeks extension of the Euro-PCT application (see points 39 ff and 223 ff).