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Decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 25.4.2006 concerning the completion of the technical preparations for the publication of European patent applications*

The President of the European Patent Office, having regard to Article 10 and Rule 48(1) EPC, has decided as follows:

Article 1

The technical preparations for publication of the European patent application shall be deemed to have been completed at the end of the day that comes five weeks before expiry of the eighteenth month following the date of filing or, if priority is claimed, following the earliest date of priority The previous time limit of seven weeks in Part A-VI, 1.1 and 1.2, of the Guidelines for Examination in the European Patent Office (June 2005 edition) shall be changed to five weeks. ¹

Article 2

This decision shall enter into force on 1 May 2006. The decision of the President of the EPO dated 14 December 1992 (OJ EPO 1993, 55) is hereby set aside.

Done at Munich, 25.4. 2006

Alain Pompidou
President

^* See also the Notice from the EPO dated 25.4.2006 concerning the withdrawal of the application to prevent publication

¹ This amendment will be incorporated into the next revised edition of the Guidelines