2.3. Indication of purpose of payment

Art. 6 RFees (previously Art. 7 RFees 1973) regulates the particulars concerning payments, which include those necessary to enable the EPO to establish a payment's purpose.

According to J 16/84 (OJ 1985, 357, headnote), if when a fee is paid the purpose of the payment has evidently been given incorrectly, this deficiency is not prejudicial if the intended purpose can be established without difficulty from the remaining information. The inadvertent use of a fee by the EPO for a different purpose from that evidently intended by the person making the payment has no effect on the purpose intended by that person.

J 23/82 (OJ 1983, 127) and J 19/96 concerned designation fees for individual contracting states under the earlier law. In J 19/96 the board noted that J 23/82 held that the indication of the purpose of a payment within the time limit for payment was not a mandatory requirement for payment to have been made in due time and, according to Art. 7(2) RFees 1973 (now Art. 6(2) RFees), could thus still be given later. However, the current board doubted whether this meant that it was generally possible to change the purpose of a payment after expiry of the relevant time limit with retroactive effect to the date on which the payment was made.

For decisions concerning payments by debit order, see also the previous section.