Article 53

EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE

Information from the EPO

Notice from the European Patent Office dated 18 June 2015 concerning abrogation of the transitional procedure for filing automatic debit orders with the EPO as receiving Office to pay fees in PCT proceedings

With effect from 1 July 2015 the transitional procedure set out in Part IV of the notice from the European Patent Office dated 12 February 2015 concerning revision of the Arrangements for deposit accounts (ADA) and their annexes (supplementary publication 3, OJ EPO 2015) is no longer applicable.

As of that date the electronic filing tools accepted by the EPO as receiving Office are fully operational and may be used to file automatic debit orders for fees payable in proceedings under the PCT. It is recommended that automatic debit orders be filed electronically online, to ensure their timely processing.

For further details regarding the automatic debiting procedure, please consult Annexes A.1 and A.2 to the ADA (supplementary publication 3, OJ EPO 2015).