In which order are debit orders processed upon replenishment of a deposit account?
Upon replenishment of a deposit account, the EPO processes debit orders in the following order (point 7.4.2 ADA):
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decisive payment date, date of receipt or deferred payment date
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subject to point 1) automatic debit orders before other debit orders
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subject to point 2) in ascending order of application number ("PCT" before "EP" before "UP")
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subject to point 3) appeal fee (011) before opposition fee (010) before all other fees in ascending order of their fee codes.
Outstanding payments are considered to have been made only on the date on which a deposit account is duly replenished. So please ensure that your account always contains sufficient funds to cover all the fees you intend to pay by debit order.
Example 1:
There is EUR 1 400 in your deposit account. You submit a debit order to pay the following fees for application EP 21xxxxxx.x:
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001 – Filing fee – EP direct – online: EUR 130
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002 – Fee for a European search: EUR 1 390
Result: The filing fee is booked; the search fee is not. Fees are booked in ascending order of their fee code.
Example 2:
There is EUR 200 in your deposit account. You submit a debit order to pay the following fees for the following applications:
1) EP 22xxxxxx.x
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001 – Filing fee – EP direct – online: EUR 130
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002 – Fee for a European search: EUR 1 390
2) EP 21xxxxxx.x
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006 – Examination fee: EUR 1 750
Result: No fees will be booked owing to the shortfall. As fees for applications are booked in ascending order of their application numbers, the first fee that would be booked is the examination fee of EUR 1 750 for EP 21xxxxxx.x. But as the funds in the deposit account are insufficient to book this fee, no other fee is booked either until the account is duly replenished.
Example 3:
There is EUR 1 800 in your deposit account. You submit a debit order to pay the following fees for the following applications:
1) EP 21xxxxxx.x
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002 – Fee for a European search: EUR 1 390
2) PCT/US2022/xxxxxx
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003 – Fee for an international search: EUR 1 775
Result: Only the search fee for PCT/US2022/xxxxxx is booked. In debit orders to pay for multiple applications, fees for PCT applications are booked before fees for EP applications ("PCT" before "EP" before "UP"). Following the booking of the search fee for PCT/US2022/xxxxxx, there is a shortfall and no other fee is booked until the account is duly replenished.
Example 4:
On 30 June 2022 there is EUR 10 in your deposit account. An automatic debit order is triggered in respect of EP 20xxxxxx.x to pay the following due fee:
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033 – Renewal for the third year: EUR 505
On the same day, a debit order is submitted to pay the following fees for the following applications:
1) EP 21xxxxxx.x
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005 – Designation fee for all contracting states: EUR 630
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006 – Examination fee: EUR 1 750
2) EP 22xxxxxx.x
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011 – Appeal fee: EUR 2 785
Since the funds in the deposit account are insufficient, neither the automatic debit order nor the other debit order can be executed on 30 June 2022.
Example 5 (follow-up to example 4):
On 11 July 2022 the deposit account is replenished with EUR 3 500.
On this date the following fees are booked:
1) As per automatic debit order: fee 033 for application EP 20xxxxxx.x. Although the automatic debit order and the debit order of 30 June 2022 have the same date of receipt / decisive payment date, automatic debit orders are processed before any other debit orders of the same date.
2) As per debit order of 30 June 2022: fees 005 and 006 for application EP 21xxxxxx.x. Since payments for multiple applications are booked in ascending order of application number, the fees for EP 21xxxxxx.x are booked first.
All of these fees are booked with a decisive payment date of 11 July 2022. As there are insufficient funds in the account to also book the appeal fee for EP 22xxxxxx.x, neither this fee nor any other fee can be booked until the account is adequately replenished.
Example 6 (follow-up to example 5):
On 20 July 2022 the account is replenished with EUR 5 000.
The appeal fee for EP 22xxxxxx.x is booked with a decisive payment date of 20 July 2022. For further information, please also refer to the Arrangements for deposit accounts (ADA).