2.5 Refund of examination fee 

The examination fee is refunded:

(i)in full if the European patent application is withdrawn, refused or deemed withdrawn before substantive examination has begun (Art. 11(a) RFees)

(ii)at a rate of 50% if the European patent application is withdrawn after substantive examination has begun and 

– before expiry of the (extended) time limit for replying to the first invitation under Art. 94(3) issued by the examining division proper or

– if no such invitation has been issued, before the date of the communication under Rule 71(3) (Art. 11(b) RFees).

As concerns (i) above, this applies to all European patent applications that are withdrawn, refused or deemed withdrawn on or after 1 July 2016. As concerns (ii) above, this applies to all European patent applications for which substantive examination began on or after 1 November 2016 (see the Administrative Council decision of 29 June 2016, OJ EPO 2016, A48). For all applications for which substantive examination began before that date, Art. 11 RFees as in force before 1 November 2016 continues to apply, which means that there will be no refund if the application is withdrawn, refused or deemed withdrawn at this stage of proceedings.

Communications under Art. 94(3) "issued by the examining division proper" (see also C‑III, 4) are all communications indicating that the application does not meet the requirements of the EPC and referring to deemed withdrawal under Art. 94(4) if the deficiencies are not duly remedied. These include the following:

–invitations under Rule 137(4)

– minutes of consultations by phone or in person, accompanied by an invitation to remedy deficiencies 

– communications relating to the "completely contained" criterion under Rule 56(3) or Rule 56a(4)

– summonses to oral proceedings under Rule 115(1) to which a communication complying with the requirements of Art. 94(3) and Rule 71(1) is annexed.

In contrast, communications addressing purely formal deficiencies and issued by formalities officers as part of the duties entrusted to them, even if issued on the basis of Art. 94(3), do not constitute communications under Art. 94(3) "issued by the examining division proper". Likewise, communications issued by the examining division proper on some other legal basis, such as Rule 164(2)(a), Rule 53(3) or Art. 124, have no bearing on the period for a withdrawal qualifying for the 50% refund (see the notice from the EPO dated 30 June 2016, OJ EPO 2016, A49).

An applicant unsure whether substantive examination has begun and wanting to withdraw the application only if certain to receive the 100% refund may make withdrawal contingent upon the refund ("conditional" withdrawal). The date of the start of examination (C‑IV, 7.1) is indicated by means of EPO Form 2095 in the public part of the dossier and is thus open to file inspection in the European Patent Register after the patent application's publication. If EPO Form 2095 is not on file, substantive examination is deemed to have started on the date on which the first communication from the examining division proper is issued (e.g. a communication under Art. 94(3), Rule 71(3) or any other legal basis as mentioned above). Before publication, the applicant can request the relevant information from the EPO or access it electronically via the MyEPO Portfolio and My Files services service. For more details, see OJ EPO 2013, 153, and OJ EPO 2023, A89.