Article 18

EUROPEAN PATENT ORGANISATION

Ireland accedes to the London Agreement

On 25 November 2013 Ireland deposited its instrument of accession to the Agreement of 17 October 2000 on the application of Article 65 EPC ("London Agreement", see OJ EPO 2001, 549). Under its Article 6(2), the agreement thus enters into force for Ireland as 20th contracting state on 1 March 2014.

Ireland has already previously amended its law in order to bring it in line with the London Agreement (see OJ EPO 2012, 510). Therefore, there are no changes to the current translation requirements in Ireland. Since 3 September 2012 applicants are no longer required to file a translation into English of the specification of European patents granted in French or German.

More information on the London Agreement is available on the EPO website (www.epo.org).