1.8 Contracting states to the PCT and the EPC 

1.8.001On 1 January 2023 the EPC was in force in a total of 39 states: Albania (AL), Austria (AT), Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), Croatia (HR), Cyprus (CY), Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Estonia (EE), Finland (FI), France (FR), Germany (DE), Greece (GR), Hungary (HU), Iceland (IS), Ireland (IE), Italy (IT), Latvia (LV), Liechtenstein (LI), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Malta (MT), Monaco (MC), Montenegro (ME), Netherlands (NL), North Macedonia (MK), Norway (NO), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), San Marino (SM), Serbia (RS), Slovakia (SK), Slovenia (SI), Spain (ES), Sweden (SE), Switzerland (CH), Turkey (TR) and United Kingdom (GB). The EPC contracting states are shown in red on the map after point 1.8.004.

1.8.002All EPC contracting states are also contracting states to the PCT and are bound by its Chapter II PCT. The EPO can therefore act as designated and elected Office for any EPC contracting state provided the international application was filed on or after the date on which the EPC entered into force for the state concerned. This means that no European patent can be granted for an EPC contracting state on the basis of an international application filed prior to the date of entry into force of the EPC for that state. For further information on the (dependent) territories of the EPC contracting states to which the PCT has been extended, see the notice from the EPO published in OJ 2014, A33, as well as the overviews of the territorial applicability of the PCT and the EPC on the WIPO website¹⁴ and in OJ 2022, A50.

1.8.003For some EPC contracting states, patent protection on the basis of an international application can only be obtained via the European route, i.e. by entering the European phase to obtain a European patent for the state concerned, since these states have closed off the possibility of entering into the national phase before the national office concerned (see point 2.12.007).