11.6 Certificate of exhibition

Pursuant to Rule 159(1)(h), any required certificate of exhibition must be filed within the 31-month period for entry into the European phase (A‑IV, 3).

If the certificate is not filed in due time, the applicant is informed of this in a communication under Rule 112(1). The omission may be remedied by a request for further processing, which will be granted if it is filed and the fee for further processing is paid within two months of notification of the communication (E‑VIII, 2).

If the certificate is not filed, this will affect the prior art that the EPO takes into account in the European phase proceedings to the extent that the applicant's disclosure at the relevant exhibition will be taken into account for the purposes of establishing whether the invention claimed is new under Art. 54. The relevant exhibitions falling within the terms of the EPC are published on the EPO website (epo.org).