Article 45

Notice from the European Patent Office dated 11 September 2026 concerning the introduction of a timeline panel in MyEPO

The European Patent Office (EPO) continuously enhances its digital services to improve accessibility, transparency and user experience. Following a successful pilot phase, a timeline panel is now being made available as a standard feature in MyEPO.

The timeline panel gives MyEPO users a visual overview of the procedural progress of their European patent applications, enabling them to better understand the procedural status of their patent applications and to manage their portfolios. Accessible directly within MyEPO, no separate registration or activation is required. It displays key procedural events in chronological order, together with the current procedural stage, status information, the next expected procedural step and indicative dates based on average procedural durations in the relevant technical field.

At present, the timeline panel displays selected key procedural events up to the end of examination proceedings. Future MyEPO releases will progressively expand its coverage to include further phases and milestones.

Information in the timeline panel is indicative only and does not bind the EPO to specific actions or timelines for individual applications.

Further information on the timeline panel, including user guidance, feature descriptions and future updates, can be found on epo.org.

The timeline panel is available as a standard feature in MyEPO from 1 October 2026.