11.3.5 Request for grant form 

All states party to the EPC at the time of filing a European patent application are automatically designated when the application is filed. The designation fees payable for an application filed before 1 April 2009, however, may be paid later.

Applicants have time – until expiry of the period for paying the designation fees (Rule 39(1) and Rules 17(3) and Rule 36(4)) – to decide which contracting states they actually want their patent to cover. This is done by paying the designation fees for those states, which may include an additional sum required to validate a request for further processing.