https://www.epo.org/en/node/getting-started

Getting started

Features and benefits

Features Benefits

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
  • 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

Paying with Central Fee Payment

You have several options for paying your patent fees online:

  1. by debit order from your deposit account
  2. by credit card with immediate effect
  3. by using the bank transfer functionality
Deposit account

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

Requirements

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.

Secure access

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

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.

Refunds via deposit account

Applicants/professional representatives can file refund instructions pertaining to a given application requesting that refunds be credited to a deposit account held with the EPO. Refund instructions should be filed using Online Filing, Online Filing 2.0 or ePCT-Filing.

Credit card

About credit card payment

You can pay patent fees by credit card in Central Fee Payment. 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.

Sign in to Central Fee Payment

Register now 

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Bank transfer

About bank transfers

You can prepare your bank transfer by submitting an order online in Central Fee Payment. 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.

Refunds to a bank account

If you have not filed any instructions indicating a deposit account to be credited in the event of a refund for your patent application, you can claim pending refunds in Central Fee Payment and request that they be credited to a bank account of your choice.

Sign in to Central Fee Payment

Register now 

Log in