1. General 

Various fees have to be paid for a European patent application, to renew a European patent and to obtain legal remedies. Fees may also need to be paid by third parties, as is the case, for example, for issuing certified copies of documents or the certified extract from the European Patent Register (see OJ EPO 2019, A15). Fees may be validly paid by any person. The amounts of the fees, the ways in which they are to be paid and the date of payment are determined in the Rules relating to Fees (RFees). Guidance for the payment of fees, expenses and prices with information about:

– the current version of the Rules relating to Fees and the schedule of fees

– important implementing rules to the Rules relating to Fees

– the payment and refund of fees and expenses 

– other notices concerning fees and prices and 

– international applications, including Euro-PCT applications entering the European phase, 

as well as the amounts of the principal fees for European and international applications and an extract from the Rules relating to Fees is published at regular intervals in the Official Journal. lnformation relating to fees and methods of payment, including the EPO bank account for payments in euro, can also be found on the EPO website (epo.org) under: Applying for a patent/Fees.

The EPC and its Implementing Regulations lay down the time limits for paying fees and the legal consequences of non-compliance with the time limits. The time limits for payment and the legal consequences of non-payment are dealt with in the chapters of the Guidelines covering the respective stages of the procedure. The methods of payment, the date on which payment is considered to be made, due dates, particulars concerning the purpose of payments and reimbursement of fees are all dealt with below.