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If the sequence listing of an international application is not available in electronic form and/or does not comply with the standard provided in Annex C to the Administrative Instructions (WIPO Standard ST.25),[ 49 ] the EPO as ISA will invite the applicant to furnish the sequence listing in electronic format and to pay a late furnishing fee within a non-extendable time limit of one month. Extensive information is provided in the notice from the EPO of 18 October 2013. For international applications filed on or after 1 July 2022, the applicable standard before the EPO is WIPO ST.26. Details of the practice which will be applied for applications filed on or after 1 July 2022 are provided in the decision of the President of the EPO dated 9 December 2021 on the filing of sequence listings and the explanatory notice from the EPO (see OJ 2021, A96 and OJ 2021, A97).
If, within the time limit set, the applicant has not submitted the sequence listing in the required electronic form and format and paid the late furnishing fee, the EPO as ISA will carry out the international search without the sequence listing to the extent that a meaningful search can be carried out. This means that in many cases no or only an incomplete search is performed. This also has consequences for the international preliminary examination procedure before the EPO as IPEA (see point 4.2.034).
