1.1 Date of publication 

The application is published as soon as possible after the expiry of a period of 18 months from the filing date or, where priority is claimed, from the earliest priority date. Upon request from the applicant, the application may, however, be published before that date, provided that the filing and search fees have been validly paid and there are no formal deficiencies in the application documents (see A‑III, 1.1 and 16). Deficiencies not yet remedied concerning the designation of inventor are not a bar to early publication (see A‑III, 5.4 and J 1/10). If the application is ready for grant before expiry of the 18-month period, see C‑IV, 7.1 and C‑VI, 3.

If the applicant abandons the priority date, the publication is deferred, provided that the EPO receives the abandonment notification before the technical preparations for publication are completed. These preparations are considered completed at the end of the day that comes five weeks before expiry of the 18th month following the earliest date of priority if priority is claimed, or following the filing date if the priority is abandoned or no priority is claimed (see the decision of the President of the EPO dated 12 July 2007, Special edition No. 3, OJ EPO 2007, D.1). The applicant is informed about the termination of the preparations, the publication number and intended publication date. Where the priority abandonment notification is received after that time, publication, if not already completed, takes place as if the priority date applied, although a notice as to the abandonment of the priority will appear in the European Patent Bulletin (see F‑VI, 3.5). The same procedure is followed when the priority right is lost under Art. 90(5) (see A‑III, 6.10).