EUROPEAN PATENT ORGANISATION
Malta accedes to the European Patent Convention
1. Accession to the EPC
On 1 December 2006, the Government of the Republic of Malta (MT) deposited its instrument of accession to the European Patent Convention (EPC) and to the Act revising the EPC of 29 November 2000 (Revision Act).
The EPC will accordingly enter into force for Malta on 1 March 2007.
The European Patent Organisation will thus comprise the following 32 member states as from 1 March 2007:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
Further information concerning the effects of this accession and the provisions which Malta has enacted for the implementation of the EPC will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Official Journal.
2. Important information
European patent applications filed on or after 1 March 2007 will include the designation of the new contracting state1. It will not be possible to designate Malta retroactively in applications filed before that date.
To allow the new contracting state to be designated, however, the EPO will accord European patent applications filed in February 2007 the filing date of 1 March 2007 if the applicant expressly requests that filing date when filing the application.
3. PCT
The Government of the Republic of Malta also deposited its instrument of accession to the PCT on 1 December 2006, and consequently the PCT too will enter into force for Malta on 1 March 2007 (see separate notice in OJ EPO 2007, 60)
Applicants should note that for international applications it will not be possible to request a later filing date as per point 2 above.
1 See Section 32.1 of the Request for Grant form (EPA/EPO/OEB Form 1001 07.05; OJ EPO 2005, 369). Malta will be included in a new version of the form.
To obtain a reduction in the examination fee under Rule 6(3) EPC and Article 12(1) RFees, the request for examination may be worded as follows in Maltese:
"Qed jigi mitlub l-ezaminazzjoni ta' l-applikazzjoni skond Artiklu 94."
(see Section II, point 5 of the Notes on Form 1001). As Section 5 of Form 1001 (left-hand column) already contains a preprinted written request for examination in the EPO's official languages, the recommended procedure is to enter the written request for examination in Maltese in the right-hand column of Section 5. The request for examination in this language may however also be submitted later at any time before the examination fee is paid (see decision J 21/98 of the Legal Board of Appeal, published in OJ EPO 2000, 406).