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Rules relating to Fees of 20 October 1977 as adopted by decision of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation of 7 December 2006 and as last amended by decision of the Administrative Council of 14 December 2023¹

THE ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN PATENT ORGANISATION,

HAVING REGARD to the European Patent Convention (EPC) and in particular Article 33, paragraph 2(d), thereof,

HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING RULES RELATING TO FEES:

Article 1

General

The following shall be levied in accordance with the provisions contained in these Rules:

(a) fees due to be paid to the European Patent Office (hereinafter referred to as the Office) as provided for in the Convention and in the Implementing Regulations and the fees and expenses which the President of the Office lays down pursuant to Article 3, paragraph 1;

(b) fees and expenses pursuant to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (hereinafter referred to as the PCT), the amounts of which may be fixed by the Office.

Article 22

Fees provided for in the Convention and in the Implementing Regulations

(1) The fees due to be paid to the Office under Article 1, unless otherwise provided in paragraph 2, shall be as follows:

(2)19 For European patent applications filed before 1 April 2009 and international applications which entered the regional phase before that date, the amount of the fees specified in Article 2, item 3, item 3a, item 7 and item 15 of the Rules relating to Fees as in force until 31 March 2009 shall be as follows:

Article 321

Fees, expenses and prices laid down by the President of the Office

(1) The President of the Office shall lay down the amount of the administrative fees provided for in the Implementing Regulations and, where appropriate, the amount of the fees and expenses for any services rendered by the Office other than those specified in Article 2.

(2) He shall also lay down the prices of the publications referred to in Articles 93, 98, 103 and 129 of the Convention. 

(3) The amounts of the fees provided for in Article 2 and of the fees and expenses laid down in accordance with paragraph 1 shall be published in the Official Journal and on the website of the European Patent Office.

Article 4

Due date for fees

(1) Fees in respect of which the due date is not specified in the provisions of the Convention or of the PCT or of the Implementing Regulations thereto shall be due on the date of receipt of the request for the service incurring the fee concerned.

(2) The President of the Office may decide not to make services within the meaning of paragraph 1 dependent upon the advance payment of the corresponding fee.

Article 522

Payment of fees

(1)23 The fees due to the Office shall be paid in euro by payment or transfer to a bank account held by the Office.

(2)24 The President of the Office may allow other methods of paying fees than those set out in paragraph 1.

Article 6

Particulars concerning payments

(1) Every payment must indicate the name of the person making the payment and must contain the necessary particulars to enable the Office to establish immediately the purpose of the payment.

(2) If the purpose of the payment cannot immediately be established, the Office shall require the person making the payment to notify it in writing of this purpose within such period as it may specify. If he does not comply with this request in due time the payment shall be considered not to have been made.

Article 725

Date to be considered as the date on which payment is made

(1) The date on which any payment shall be considered to have been made to the Office shall be the date on which the amount of the payment or of the transfer is actually entered in a bank account held by the Office.

(2) Where the President of the Office allows, in accordance with the provisions of Article 5, paragraph 2, other methods of paying fees than those set out in Article 5, paragraph 1, he shall also lay down the date on which such payments shall be considered to have been made.

(3) Where, under the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2, payment of a fee is not considered to have been made until after the expiry of the period in which it should have been made, it shall be considered that this period has been observed if evidence is provided to the Office that the person who made the payment fulfilled one of the following conditions in a contracting State within the period within which the payment should have been made:

(i) he effected the payment through a banking establishment;

(ii) he duly gave an order to a banking establishment to transfer the amount of the payment.

(4) The Office may request the person who made the payment to produce evidence as to the date on which a condition according to paragraph 3 was fulfilled within a period to be specified by it. If he fails to comply with this request or if the evidence is insufficient, the period for payment shall be considered not to have been observed.

Article 826

Insufficiency of the amount paid

A time limit for payment shall in principle be deemed to have been observed only if the full amount of the fee has been paid in due time. If the fee is not paid in full, the amount which has been paid shall be refunded after the period for payment has expired. The Office may, however, in so far as this is possible within the time remaining before the end of the period, give the person making the payment the opportunity to pay the amount lacking. It may also, where this is considered justified, overlook any small amounts lacking without prejudice to the rights of the person making the payment.

Article 9

Refund of search fees

(1)27 The search fee paid for a European or supplementary European search shall be fully refunded if the European patent application is withdrawn or refused or deemed to be withdrawn at a time when the Office has not yet begun to draw up the search report.

(2)28 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 of the Convention or of Rule 17 of the Convention, the Office shall refund to the applicant, in accordance with a decision of its President, an amount which shall depend on the type of earlier search and the extent to which the Office benefits from the earlier search report when carrying out the subsequent search.

Article 10

Refund of the fee for a technical opinion

An amount of 75% of the fee for a technical opinion under Article 25 of the Convention shall be refunded if the request for a technical opinion is withdrawn at a time when the Office has not yet begun to draw up the technical opinion.

Article 1129^, 30

Refund of examination fee

The examination fee provided for in Article 94, paragraph 1, of the Convention shall be refunded:

(a) in full if the European patent application is withdrawn, refused or deemed to be withdrawn before the substantive examination has begun;

(b) at a rate of 50% if the European patent application is withdrawn after substantive examination has begun and

• before expiry of the time limit for replying to the first invitation under Article 94, paragraph 3, of the Convention issued by the Examining Division proper or,
• if no such invitation has been issued by the Examining Division, before the date of the communication under Rule 71, paragraph 3, of the Convention.

Article 1231

Refund of insignificant amounts

Where too large a sum is paid to cover a fee, the excess shall not be refunded if the amount is insignificant and the party concerned has not expressly requested a refund. The President of the Office shall determine what constitutes an insignificant amount.

Article 1332

Termination of financial obligations

(1) Rights of the Organisation to the payment of a fee to the European Patent Office shall be extinguished after four years from the end of the calendar year in which the fee was due.

(2) Rights against the Organisation for the refunding by the European Patent Office of fees or sums of money paid in excess of a fee shall be extinguished after four years from the end of the calendar year in which the right arose.

(3) The period laid down in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be interrupted in the case covered by paragraph 1 by a request for payment of the fee and in the case covered by paragraph 2 by a reasoned claim in writing. On interruption it shall begin again immediately and shall end at the latest six years after the end of the year in which it originally began, unless, in the meantime, judicial proceedings to enforce the right have begun; in this case the period shall end at the earliest one year after the judgment enters into force.

(4) The President of the European Patent Office may waive action for the enforced recovery of any sum due if the sum to be recovered is minimal or if such recovery is too uncertain.

Article 14

Reduction of fees

(1)33 The reduction laid down in Rule 7a, paragraphs 1 EPC and Rule 7a, paragraphs 3, of the Convention shall be 30% of the relevant fee.

(2)34 Where the European Patent Office has drawn up an international preliminary examination report, the examination fee shall be reduced by 75%. If the report was established on certain parts of the international application in accordance with Article 34, paragraph 3(c), PCT, the fee shall not be reduced if subject-matter not covered by the report is to be examined.

(3)35 If more than one reduction applies to the same fee for the same application, the reductions shall be calculated sequentially.

Article 15

Entry into force

These Rules shall enter into force on 20 October 1977.36

DONE at Munich, 20 October 1977 

For the Administrative Council

The Chairman