Central Fee Payment

To pay patent fees by credit card (processed by the e-payments provider Ingenico), use the bank transfer functionality to prepare a bank transfer or claim refunds online, you first have to register as a user in Central Fee Payment. This involves setting up a username and password, but no smart card authentication is needed.

You need a smart card to pay patent fees via a deposit account in Central Fee Payment. 

• Enrol for a smart card
• Register or renew your smart card

Sign in to pay fees or claim refunds in Central Fee Payment

What you need to be able to use Central Fee Payment and pay fees via deposit account

• EPO deposit account. To open, reopen, close or update an EPO deposit account, please use the online form.
• Hardware and software required
  • smart card (see Smart card and security)
  • smart card reader, reader driver and cryptovision software (see Smart card and security)
  • Web browser: Internet Explorer 9 and above with Compatibility View disabled, Mozilla Firefox latest version, Google Chrome. Mac: Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox.
    If you have Mozilla Firefox, you will need to install cryptovision first.
• Further settings
  • Linking your deposit account to your smart card
    We have to link your deposit account to your smart card in the EPO system. If you did not indicate your deposit account on your smart card request form, you should contact EPO User Support indicating both your smart card details and your deposit account number(s).
  • Granting Central Fee Payment rights
    Your company's My.epoline administrator has to grant your smart card the necessary Central Fee Payment rights.

Features

With Central Fee Payment you can

• pay fees singly or in batches either by credit card, from your deposit account or via bank transfer
• claim refunds to an EPO deposit account or a bank account of your choice
• request and revoke automatic debiting for your applications (single or batch)
• view
  • and download your order history as a PDF file
  • your rejected fee payment history
  • and download the schedule of fees in an XML file
  • your refund history
  • and download your pending transactions and transactions booked up to two years in the past in an XML, CSV or PDF file
  • your deposit account balance at the end of selected periods up to two years in the past
  • and download your applications subject to automatic debiting in a CSV or PDF file
  • and download your request and revocation history for automatic debit orders in a CSV and PDF file

Benefits

• Access to deposit account information at your fingertips
• Up-to-date fee amounts
• Payment possible up to the last minute
• Immediate confirmation of receipt of your payment order and payment confirmations available in the Fee order history
• Access to account statements
• Flexible online administration
• Increased transparency of payment procedure
• Overview of fees due

User guides, manuals and other documentation 

• Tutorial Central Fee Payment
• Central Fee Payment (CFP) – Quick-reference guide
• Troubleshooting - EPO online services smart card
• Technical information on XML and CSV formats for batch payments

FAQs

• Credit card
• Bank transfer
• Deposit account
• Claiming refunds online
• Arrangements for deposit accounts (ADA)

2023

• Decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 24 April 2023 concerning the revision of the Arrangements for deposit accounts and their annexes in view of the entry into force of the Unitary Patent system (OJ EPO 2023, Supplementary publication 3)
• Notice from the European Patent Office dated 24 April 2023 concerning the revision of the Arrangements for deposit accounts (ADA) and their annexes in view of the entry into force of the Unitary Patent system (OJ EPO 2023, Supplementary publication 3) 

2022

• Arrangements for deposit accounts (ADA) and their annexes (valid as from 10 September 2022) (OJ EPO 2022, Supplementary publication 3)
• Notice from the European Patent Office dated 19 July 2022 (OJ EPO 2022, A81)
• Guidance for the payment of fees, expenses and prices applicable as from 1 April 2022 (OJ EPO 2022, A34)
• Notice from the European Patent Office dated 16 February 2022 concerning the payment of fees by credit card (OJ EPO 2022, A18)

2020

• Notice from the European Patent Office dated 4 June 2020 concerning changes to fee payment via the automatic debiting procedure (OJ EPO 2020, A78)

2019

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