Rules Relating to Fees
Article 10 13
Refund of search fees
A revised version of the European Patent Convention entered into force on 13 December 2007. The provisions of the revised Convention apply unless the transitional provisions provide for the applicability of the EPC 1973. |
(1) The search fee paid for a European or supplementary European search shall be fully refunded if the European patent application is withdrawn or refused or deemed to be withdrawn at a time when the Office has not yet begun to draw up the search report.
(2) 14 Where the European search report is based on an earlier search report prepared by the Office on an application whose priority is claimed or an earlier application within the meaning of Article 76 of the Convention or an original application within the meaning of Rule 15 of the Convention, the Office shall refund to the applicant, in accordance with a decision of its President, an amount which shall depend on the type of earlier search and the extent to which the Office benefits from the earlier search report when carrying out the subsequent search.
13Last amended by decision of the Administrative Council of 09.12.2004 which entered into force on 01.07.2005 (OJ EPO 2005, 5 ff).
14See decision of the President of the EPO dated 01.01.2006 concerning the refund of search fees (OJ EPO 2006, 83 f), later updates of this decision published in the OJ EPO and the Notice from the President of the EPO dated 01.07.2005 concerning the criteria for refund of search fees (OJ EPO 2005, 433 ff) and Annex C, Part II of the Agreement between the EPO and WIPO under the PCT (OJ EPO 2001, 608 ff; 2005, 463 ff).