5. Designation, extension and validation fee

Pursuant to Rule 159(1)(d) the (flat) designation fee must be paid within 31 months of the date of filing or, if priority has been claimed, of the earliest priority date, if the time limit specified in Rule 39(1) has expired earlier. So the due date for payment of the designation fee is also deferred by virtue of the processing ban (A‑XII, 3.1) if the fee became due before expiry of the 31-month period. The time limit under Rule 159(1)(d) in combination with Rule 39(1) for payment of the designation fee therefore starts from the date of the publication of the ISR under Art. 21 PCT (A‑VI, 2).

Since, on filing of the PCT request, all PCT contracting states are automatically designated for both a national and, where applicable, a regional patent (Rule 4.9 PCT) (A‑XII, 2.1), the payment of the designation fee on entry into the European phase confirms the (regional) designation of the EPC contracting states designated in the PCT request, unless the applicant has withdrawn the designation of one or more EPC contracting states during the international phase (A‑XII, 2.1). If, prior to the date on which the processing in the European phase started, the regional designation of all contracting states of the EPC is withdrawn, the international application, in so far as it is deemed to be a European application pursuant to Art. 153(2) and Art. 11(3) PCT, is deemed to be withdrawn. Thus, the international application is no longer a Euro-PCT application.

Where the applicant or one of the applicants is a Russian national, a natural person residing in Russia or a legal person, entity or body established in Russia, the designation of those EPC contracting states that are member states of the European Union will be deemed to be withdrawn on entry into the European phase, in accordance with Rule 39(2a) (see OJ EPO 2024, A105), and payment of the designation fee will thus have no legal effect in respect of these states (see A‑XIII, 5.1).

See A‑X for general guidance on the payment of fees. To support small entities and micro-entities, applicants fulfilling certain criteria are eligible for fee reductions (for the eligibility criteria, see A‑X, 9.2 and A‑X, 9.4)