What is the difference between validation and the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)?

The validation of European patents is an additional route to obtain patent protection, complementing the PCT and filing directly at a national office or the Paris route. Validation offers applicants and national offices a cost-effective way to streamline the patenting process, while ensuring the highest levels of legal certainty and quality. With validation, no additional substantive search and examination must be carried out by the national offices on validated patent applications.