INFORMATION FROM THE EPO
Decisions of the President of the EPO
Decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 31 January 2008 concerning the refund of search fees under Article 9(2) of the Rules relating to Fees 1
The President of the European Patent Office,
having regard to Article 9(2) of the Rules relating to Fees,
having regard to the adjustment of fees and prices as of 1 April 2008,
has decided as follows:
Article 1
Refundable amounts
Where the European search report is based on an earlier search report prepared by the Office on
- an application whose priority is claimed, or
- an earlier application within the meaning of Article 76 EPC, or
- an original application within the meaning of Rule 17 EPC,
the refund shall be as follows:
The embedded tables within this article are for technical reasons only available in the PDF version of this article.
Article 2
Refund rate
If the EPO can base its search report wholly on the earlier search, the amounts of a full refund indicated above apply.
If the EPO can base its search partly on the earlier search, the amounts of a partial refund indicated above apply.
Article 3
Criteria for refund and refund procedure
The criteria determining the applicable refund rate (full or partial) and the refund procedure shall be governed by the Notice from the President of the European Patent Office dated 1 July 2005 concerning the criteria for refund of search fees (OJ EPO 2005, 433).
Article 4
Entry into force
This Decision enters into force on 1 April 2008 and applies to all European patent applications and international patent applications entering the European phase, filed on or after 1 July 2005.
Done at Munich, 31 January 2008
Alison Brimelow
President
1 The present decision updates the decision of the President dated 14 July 2007 (Special edition No. 3, OJ EPO 2007, M.2.). With the addition of those refund cases resulting from the fee adjustment as of 1 April 2008 (see the Decision of the Administrative Council dated 14 December 2007, OJ EPO 2008, 5, and the Decision of the President of the EPO dated 31 January 2008 revising the Office's fees and expenses, OJ EPO 2008, 202).