9.3 Reduction under the language arrangements
9.3.1 Conditions
European patent applications can be filed in any language. If filed in a language other than an official EPO language, a translation must be furnished. The languages that can be used for filing European patent applications fall into three categories:
(b)official languages of contracting states other than English, French or German, such as Dutch, Italian or Spanish ("admissible non‑EPO languages")
(c)all other languages, such as Chinese, Japanese or Korean.
A 30% reduction of the filing and/or examination fee is provided for applicants whose residence or principal place of business is within the territory of an EPC contracting state having the language in question as an official language or who are a national of such a contracting state. For international applications entering the European phase, a 30% reduction of the examination fee is provided for (see the notice from the EPO dated 25 January 2024, OJ EPO 2024, A8). In this regard, it is necessary to file the documents making up the application "as filed" and/or the request for examination in an admissible non‑EPO language, and to file the translation not earlier than simultaneously (see G 6/91 and A‑X, 9.3.2).
The categories of applicants eligible for the fee reductions are:
– microenterprises
– small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
– natural persons
– non-profit organisations, universities and public research organisations
whose residence or principal place of business is in an EPC contracting state with an official language other than English, French or German, and nationals of such states who are resident abroad.
The definitions of SMEs and microenterprises are those contained in European Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC of 6 May 2003 as published in the Official Journal of the European Union (see the notice from the EPO dated 25 January 2024, OJ EPO 2024, A8). Under the recommendation, an enterprise is considered to be any entity engaged in an economic activity, irrespective of its legal form. The category of small and medium-sized enterprises is made up of enterprises employing fewer than 250 persons, having an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 50 million and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 43 million. Within the SME category, a microenterprise is defined as an enterprise employing fewer than 10 persons and whose annual turnover and/or balance sheet total does not exceed EUR 2 million. Staff headcount and financial ceilings are calculated in accordance with European Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC, which defines the data to be used for the headcount, the financial amounts as well as the reference period. This means that the economic autonomy of the company in question may have an impact on its qualification as small and medium-sized or microenterprise (see Arts. 3 and 6 of European Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC). Further information and examples for the calculation of staff headcount and financial ceilings can be found in the European Commission's "User guide to the SME definition (2020)", see data.europa.eu/doi/10.2873/255862.
The eligibility of the further entities listed in Rule 7a(2) is subject to the following definitions:
(i)"Non-profit organisations" are organisations not allowed by their legal form or statutes, under the relevant law, to be a source of income, profit or other financial gain to their owners, or – if allowed to make a profit – there is a legal or statutory obligation to reinvest the profits made in the interest of the organisation.
(ii)"Universities" are to be understood as "classical" universities, meaning institutions of higher education and research, under the relevant law. However, comparable institutions, such as secondary or higher education establishments, are considered to be universities.
(iii)"Public research organisations" are entities such as universities or research institutes that are organised under public law and, irrespective of how they are financed, have the primary goal of conducting fundamental research, industrial research or experimental development and of disseminating the results by way of teaching, publication or technology transfer. All profits must be reinvested in carrying out these activities, in disseminating the results or in teaching.
If there are multiple applicants, each one must be an entity or a natural person within the meaning of Rule 7a(2) for the fee reduction to apply; it is however sufficient for only one of them to be entitled to use an admissible non‑EPO language (Art. 14(4), Rule 7a(1)).
Applicants wishing to benefit from the reduction in the filing or examination fee under Art. 14(1) RFees must expressly declare that they are an entity or natural person covered by Rule 7a(2). The declaration may be made either on filing the application by selecting the appropriate box on the request for grant form (EPO Form 1001) or, on filing the request for entry into the European phase by selecting the appropriate box on EPO Form 1200. It can also be filed subsequently using non-mandatory EPO Form 1011, which is available in EPO Online Filing and Online Filing 2.0 or can be downloaded in PDF format from the EPO website (epo.org). For Euro-PCT applications, the filing fee is not reduced (see E‑IX, 2.1.4 A‑XIII, 4); for a reduction in the examination fee, see A‑XIII, 7.
The eligibility criteria must be fulfilled and the declaration must be filed at the latest on the date of payment of the fee concerned. Changes in the status of an entity which occur after the filing of the declaration will take effect only for the future and will not affect any reduced fees already paid (OJ EPO 2024, A8).