8. Renewal fees

The renewal fees for a Euro-PCT application are due in respect of the third and each subsequent year, as calculated from the date of filing of the Euro-PCT application accorded by the receiving Office (Art. 11 PCT) unless that date is reviewed (A‑XV, 1.3, 4 and 6).

Rule 159(1)(g) provides that, if the renewal fee in respect of the third year has fallen due earlier, applicants must pay it within the 31-month period. This means that if the third-year renewal falls due in accordance with Rule 51(1) before expiry of the 31-month period, the due date is deferred by virtue of the processing ban (A‑XII, 3.1) and the fee may be paid without surcharge up to expiry of the 31-month period.

Renewal fee payments initiated via a deposit account before the permissible prepayment periods are not valid. Where the third year renewal fee is paid too early, i.e. before the permissible prepayment period of six months, e.g. in the 29th month for an application claiming the full 12-month priority period, the fee will be automatically rejected at source under ADA 9.1 and 9.2 (OJ EPO 2024, A81; OJ EPO 2024, A82). If a debit order for a renewal fee is included in a batch filed via Central Fee Payment before the earliest valid payment dates under Rule 51(1), it will be rejected at source by the validation functionality (A‑X, 4.2.3).

For the calculation of the due date of renewal fees in general, i.e. where the third-year renewal fee is due only after expiry of the 31-month period, see A‑X, 5.2.4.

For general guidance on the payment of fees, see A‑X. 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).