Article 3

ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL

Decision of the Administrative Council of 13 December 2017 abrogating its decision CA/D 10/05 concerning cases where the search fee for the supplementary European search is to be reduced (CA/D 16/17)

THE ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN PATENT ORGANISATION,

Having regard to the European Patent Convention and in particular Article 153(7) thereof,

On a proposal from the President of the European Patent Office,

Having regard to the opinion of the Budget and Finance Committee,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Administrative Council decision CA/D 10/05 of 27 October 2005 reducing the search fee for the supplementary European search where the international search report was drawn up by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Japanese Patent Office, the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the Chinese Intellectual Property Office, the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Russian Federation) or the Australian Patent Office is hereby abrogated.

Article 2

(1) This decision shall enter into force on 1 April 2018.

(2) If within six months of 1 April 2018 a fee for the supplementary European search report is paid in due time but only in the amount due before 1 April 2018 where the reduction under CA/D 10/05 was applicable, that fee shall be deemed to have been validly paid if the deficit is made good within two months of an invitation to that effect from the European Patent Office.

Done at Munich, 13 December 2017

For the Administrative Council

The Chairman

Christoph ERNST