Article 6

Notice from the European Patent Office dated 2 December 2025 concerning the publication of the Unitary Patent Guidelines

By decision of the President of the EPO dated 2 December 2025 and pursuant to Rule 3 of the Rules relating to Unitary Patent Protection in conjunction with Article 10(2)(a) EPC, the Unitary Patent Guidelines have been amended in line with the EPO's policy to provide an annual update. The amended Unitary Patent Guidelines, which will enter into force on 1 April 2026, will be published as a complete April 2026 edition that will supersede the April 2025 edition.

The April 2026 edition of the Unitary Patent Guidelines will be published only in electronic format and will be available in all three official languages on the EPO website at epo.org.

The Unitary Patent Guidelines will be available in PDF format – as a clean copy and as a version showing all modifications – and in HTML format. Within each section of the HTML version, the latest amendments can be viewed by selecting the Show modifications box in the upper right corner. A full list of the sections which have been amended, together with the corresponding hyperlinks, will also be available.

As a courtesy service, a preview of the English version will be made available on the EPO website at the beginning of February 2026 for advance information.

Amendments have been made to all chapters of the Unitary Patent Guidelines. Some of them derive from the case law of the Unified Patent Court, while others are based on decisions of the President and legal or procedural changes. Clarifications and updates regarding the Unitary Patent Protection Division's practice have been added throughout the Guidelines, for instance about the new practice on general authorisations. Previous chapter 3 has been split into two new chapters: chapter 3 on fees and chapter 4 on compensation. Chapter 3 now contains more in-depth information relating to the payment of renewal fees. Chapter 8 has also been amended to provide more details regarding notification, determination of time limits and oral proceedings.

Once the preview version of the 2026 edition is published in February 2026, an online user consultation on the newly published Guidelines will be launched. Detailed information about the online user consultation, which will run until mid-April 2026, will be published on the EPO website at the beginning of February 2026.