Article 65

EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE

Information from the EPO

Decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 13 November 2025 concerning inspection of files

The President of the European Patent Office, having regard to Article 128 EPC, Rule 145 EPC, Rule 144(d) EPC, Rule 20(1) and (2)(j) UPR, Article 150(2) EPC, Article 30 PCT and Rule 94 PCT, has decided as follows:

Article 1

File inspection

(1) The files relating to

(a) European patent applications and granted patents, including European patents with unitary effect,

(b) international applications under the PCT held by the European Patent Office as receiving Office, International Searching Authority or Authority specified for supplementary search1 and

(c) international applications under the PCT for which the European Patent Office acts as designated or elected Office

will be available for online inspection, free of charge, via the European Patent Register, which includes the Register for unitary patent protection. This is without prejudice to the possibility of inspecting files held by the EPO using other online services.2

(2) Files or parts thereof that cannot be displayed in the European Patent Register, e.g. because they are not scannable, will be made available for inspection upon request, as determined by the European Patent Office.

Article 2

Documents excluded from file inspection

(1) The following will be excluded from file inspection by the European Patent Office of its own motion:

(a) medical certificates and copies of IDs, passports and other identity documents

(b) requests for accelerated examination under the "PACE" programme

(c) documents relating to the issue of priority documents, file-inspection proceedings or the communication of information from the files

(d) requests for exclusion from inspection under paragraph 2(a).

(2) Documents or parts thereof other than those referred to in paragraph 1

(a) will be excluded from file inspection at the reasoned request of a party or their representative if their inspection would be prejudicial to the legitimate personal or economic interests of natural or legal persons

(b) may, exceptionally, be excluded from file inspection by the European Patent Office of its own motion if their inspection would be prima facie prejudicial to the legitimate personal or economic interests of natural or legal persons other than a party or their representative.

(3) Documents covered by a request under paragraph 2(a) will be excluded from file inspection provisionally, pending a final decision on the request. If the request is not granted, the documents will be open for inspection as soon as the decision refusing the request becomes final.

Article 3

Certified paper copies

On request, the European Patent Office will make available certified paper copies of parts of the file. The certification request will not be deemed to have been made until the administrative fee for it has been paid, where applicable.

Article 4

Previous decisions superseded

On the entry into force of this decision, the decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 12 July 2007 concerning documents excluded from file inspection (Special edition No. 3, OJ EPO 2007, J.3), the decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 20 February 2019 on the inspection of files (OJ EPO 2019, A16) and the decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 20 February 2019 concerning online file inspection of documents contained in the file held by the EPO as receiving Office, International Searching Authority or Authority specified for supplementary search (OJ EPO 2019, A17) will cease to have effect.

Article 5

Entry into force

This decision enters into force on 1 January 2026.

Done at Munich, 13 November 2025

António CAMPINOS

President