Chapter 5 – Euro-PCT procedure before the EPO as a designated or elected Office

5.16 Publication of the Euro-PCT application by the EPO

5.16.001In principle, the international publication of an international application takes the place of the publication of a European patent application.

Art. 29(1) PCT, Art. 29(2) PCT
Art. 67 EPC, Art. 153(3) EPC, Art. 153(4) EPC
GL/EPO E‑IX, 2.5.1

5.16.002In accordance with this principle, a Euro-PCT application published by the IB in an official language of the EPO enjoys, subject to the provisions of Article 67(3) EPC, provisional protection as from the date of the international publication. The EPO will, once the application has entered the European phase, notify the applicant of the publication of the bibliographic data of the Euro-PCT application in the European Patent Bulletin and confirm that the application, subject to the provisions of Article 67(2) and (3) EPC, enjoys provisional protection in the individual EPC contracting states.

5.16.003If the Euro-PCT application was published by the IB in a language other than one of the three official languages of the EPO, the EPO will publish the translation of the Euro-PCT application submitted by the applicant upon entry into the European phase (see point 5.5.001). In that case the provisional protection is, subject to Article 67(2) EPC and Article 67(3) EPC, only effective as from the date of publication of the translation by the EPO.

5.16.004The translation of the international application is published together with the bibliographic data as an A-document and includes all documents that were part of the international publication:

–the description as originally filed;

–the claims as originally filed;

–any claims amended under Article 19 PCT, including the statement under Article 19 PCT;

–any drawings as originally filed;

–the sequence listing forming part of the description (see point 5.6.010);

–the abstract;

–any appendices to the application;

–any correct parts or elements incorporated by reference under Rule 20.6 PCT in conjunction with Rule 20.5bis(d) PCT;

–any erroneously filed parts or elements, where correct parts or elements were incorporated by reference under Rule 20.6 PCT in conjunction with Rule 20.5bis(d) PCT;

–any certificate(s) of the deposit of biological material;

–the translation of the ISR.

The mandatory translation of the annexes to the IPER and any amendments to the application documents filed on or after entry into the European phase are not published.

R. 48.2 PCT

5.16.005Pursuant to Article 153(6) EPC the international search report takes the place of the European search report. Once the supplementary European search report has been drawn up, this will be mentioned in the European Patent Bulletin, Part I.1(4). The supplementary search report itself is not published but is available via public file inspection.