INFORMATION FROM THE CONTRACTING / EXTENSION STATES
Bank accounts of national patent offices
Following Regulation (EC) No. 2560/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 2001 on cross-border payments in euro, on 1 July 2003 banks in most EPC contracting states introduced the requisite "Bank Identifier Code" (BIC) and "International Bank Account Number" (IBAN). At the wish of many users of the European patent system, an updated list of the bank accounts of the national patent offices of the contracting and extension states is published below.
The IBAN and BIC make fee payments to national offices for European patent applications and patents cheaper and simpler. However, allowance must be made for possible bank charges - especially on incoming foreign transfers - which it is not the responsibility of national patent authorities to pay. Payers must therefore ensure that the payee incurs no additional transfer costs. Apart from that, the customary rules also apply, eg that the payer's name, the purpose of payment, and the application or publication number must be given.
All payments are governed by the national law applicable. For more details, especially about whether a domestic representative has to be appointed in order for particular fees to be validly paid, see the EPO brochure on "National law relating to the EPC" and the updated information published in the Official Journal.
The table below has been produced with great care, but we cannot guarantee that it is absolutely complete and correct. We shall however try to make sure that all changes brought to our attention are incorporated in the Internet version on the EPO website.
For technical reasons, the tables embedded in this article are only available in the PDF version.