Convergence of practice

Companies and inventors seeking patent protection in Europe are sometimes confronted with diverging practices at national patent offices and the EPO. This complicates the existing European patent system, and can lead to increased costs and inefficiencies for applicants. A programme, which is a key part of the EPO’s Strategic Plan 2028 (SP2028), aims to reduce or even overcome these differences by establishing common practices in selected areas to be implemented on a voluntary basis. This is of particular importance for SMEs, for whom differences in practice can be a major obstacle to operating internationally.

Implementation of common practices:

An overview and detailed information on the implementation of common practices by the Contracting States has been collected. It is updated on a regular basis.

Read more about implementation

Common practices

The following common practices, resulting from discussions in dedicated working groups, have been adopted so far by EPO member states in the Administrative Council: 

First cycle (2020 - 2023)

Examination of unity of invention
This common practice covers the information to be provided to applicants as minimum reasoning when raising non-unity objections.

Designation of the inventor
This common practice concerns the designation of the inventor.

Accordance of a date of priority
This common practice relates to the formal and administrative requirements of the accordance of a date of priority

Re-establishment of rights
This common practice mainly relates to the formal requirements for the filing of requests and for the drafting of decisions and communications on re-establishment of rights.

Claim drafting and structure
This common practice relates to the formal requirements governing the drafting of claims and their structure.

Examination of computer-implemented inventions and artificial intelligence
This common practice aims to establish a common ground for examining CIIs and AI-related inventions between EPC contracting and extension states and the EPO so as to help applicants to successfully draft and prosecute applications in these areas throughout Europe.

Second cycle (2023 - 2026)

Allowable features in drawings
This common practice relates to different formal requirements as regards drawings, such as the allowability of colour drawings and photographs.

Issuing and accepting electronic priority documents
This common practice relates to the access to electronic priority documents via digital libraries and to the issuance of electronic priority documents to applicants, including the technical requirements governing them.

Observations by third parties
This common practice relates to the possibility of filing observations by third parties as well as the applicable formal requirements.

Assignments
This common practice relates to the form in which assignments can be filed and to the procedure for rectifying deficiencies and correcting errors in pending requests.

Broad claims
This common practice addresses the issue of broad claims. It is structured in four parts.

Double patenting
This common practice sets out the information that should be provided in a communication by an examiner when raising a double patenting objection. 

Background

The Convergence of practice programme is a key part of the EPO's Strategic Plan 2028 (SP2028). It aims to simplify the patent system, making it more accessible and efficient for users by reducing discrepancies in administrative procedures among different jurisdictions, with a particular emphasis on procedural harmonization. It exemplifies the EPO's commitment to fostering a more unified and accessible patent landscape in Europe, benefiting inventors and businesses alike. 

The first cycle of the convergence programme was launched with the adoption of the Strategic Plan 2023 (see CA/PL 14/19). After the completion of the first cycle, the Administrative Council approved the continuation of the convergence programme and the launch of six new topics for a second cycle (CA/73/22 Rev. 1) which was completed in 2025.  The six topics for the third cycle of the convergence programme have been agreed upon at the 2025 December meeting of the Administrative Council (see CA/66/25 Rev. 1).

Benefits

More closely aligning administrative practices between the EPO and Europe’s national IP offices is expected to bring a number of benefits for offices and applicants alike. For users and the public, it will improve predictability and legal certainty in the European patent system, and provide simpler, more streamlined and cost-efficient proceedings.

The potential cost savings could enable patent applicants to undertake additional investment in research and development, for example. Harmonised practices could also facilitate the extension of patent protection by SMEs from national to European level.

Overall, the programme will enable a more uniform service across Europe for users of the patent system, ensuring that innovators benefit from higher quality services no matter where they are based.

Efficiency and quality gains for patent offices

For the EPO and the national patent offices the convergence of practices will also lead to efficiency and quality gains. Harmonisation facilitates work-sharing, for example, through better use of earlier searches, enabling cost savings to be realised by both national patent offices and the EPO, as well as improving the quality of their work. At the same time, convergence will enable national offices to reduce their administrative workload.

Positive impact on training, knowledge-sharing and IT tools

More aligned workflows in patent procedures will additionally have a positive impact on the harmonisation of IT tools, enabling the joint construction of an effective IT environment and the delivery of tools that work in the long term.

Furthermore, aligning practices between national offices and the EPO will facilitate enhanced knowledge-sharing and training of patent office staff by enabling the EPO to deliver more focused resources based on agreed common practices.

Methodology

Under the convergence of practice programme, dedicated working groups are set up to agree on a recommendation for a common practice in the selected areas. The working groups, which are composed of representatives of the EPO member states interested in participating in the discussions as well as the EPO, examine the existing practices at the various offices, analyse the disparities, and agree on common practices with regard to these areas. Representatives from industry and the patent profession (epi and BusinessEurope), as well as from WIPO are also involved in the working groups as observers. The recommendations are then submitted to the Committee on Patent Law of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation for opinion, and to the Administrative Council for adoption.

The implementation of the agreed common practice by the EPO member states and the EPO takes place on a voluntary basis.