Fee payments and refunds

About debit orders

Deposit accounts are debited on the basis of an electronic debit order signed by the account holder or authorised representative.

The debit order may be

• for individual fees for one or more applications, i.e. a single or a batch debit order, or
• an automatic debit order for a specific European or international patent application, authorising the EPO to debit fees automatically as the proceedings progress



Replenishment

Payments to replenish deposit accounts must be made into the EPO's bank account.

Nr. 3 338 800 00 (BLZ 700 800 00)
IBAN DE20 7008 0000 0333 8800 00
BIC* DRESDEFF700
Commerzbank AG
Leopoldstrasse 230
80807 Munich, Germany.

*Please use COBADEFFXXX if DRESDEFF700 is not recognised.

The payment must include the following information in the reference field of the bank transfer: "replenishment" (or "repl" for short) or "deposit", followed by the eight-digit number (starting with 28) of the EPO deposit account concerned.

Legal sources and FAQs

• Arrangements for deposit accounts (ADA) valid as from 1 October 2019
• Decision of the President of the EPO of 04.06.2020 amending Annex A.1 and Annex A.2 to the arrangements for deposit accounts (ADA) (OJ EPO 2020, A77)
• Notice from the EPO of 04.06.2020 concerning changes to fee payment via the automatic debiting procedure (OJ EPO 2020, A78)
• Decision of the President of EPO of 18.03.2021 amending the Arrangements for deposit accounts (ADA) and Annex A.1 to the ADA – Arrangements for the automatic debiting procedure (AAD) (OJ EPO 2021, A26)
• Decision of the President of the EPO of 13.07.2021 concerning revision of the Arrangements for deposit accounts (ADA) (OJ EPO 2021, A60)
• Notice from the European Patent Office dated 2 March 2022 concerning the extension of the functionalities of Central Fee Payment (OJ 2022, A25)
• FAQ about the Arrangements for deposit accounts (ADA)
• FAQ about the automatic debiting procedure for PCT fees

About credit card payment

You can pay patent fees online by credit card. This is a secure and flexible way of making instant fee payments.

Refunds of payment by credit card

Please note that refunds to credit card accounts are not possible.

Legal sources

• Decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 22 August 2017 concerning the payment of fees by credit card (OJ 2017, A72)
• Notice from the European Patent Office dated 16 February 2022 concerning the payment of fees by credit card (OJ 2022, A18)

About bank transfers

You can prepare your bank transfer by submitting an order online in our fee payment service. This allows you to pay fees for multiple applications with a single transfer. You will get a unique payment reference per order submitted.

Please then quote this reference when making the bank transfer.

Once we have received your bank transfer, payment confirmation will be available to download in the service.

Getting started

• How to prepare bank transfers in Central Fee Payment

Legal sources

• Notice from the European Patent Office dated 13 July 2021 concerning Central Fee Payment (OJ 2021, A61)
• Notice from the European Patent Office dated 2 March 2022 concerning the extension of the functionalities of Central Fee Payment (OJ 2022, A25)

Refunds via deposit account

Applicants/professional representatives can file refund instructions pertaining to a given application requesting that all refunds be credited to a deposit account held with the EPO. Refund instructions should be filed using our online filing tools.

Legal sources

• Notice from the European Patent Office dated 20 August 2019 concerning the revised fee refund procedures (OJ 2019, A82)

Getting started

• Open/re-open/close/update details for a deposit account

Refunds to a bank account

If you have not filed any refund instructions and do not hold a deposit account with the EPO, you can claim any pending refunds online and ask for them to be credited to a bank account.

Legal sources

• Notice from the European Patent Office dated 20 August 2019 concerning the revised fee refund procedures (OJ 2019, A82)

Getting started

• How to have refunds credited to a bank account: "Pay fees and claim refunds"

The EPO no longer issues refunds of fees by cheque (effective 1.4.2019).