INFORMATION FROM THE EPO
Notice from the European Patent Office dated 1 April 2009 concerning amendment of the Guidelines for Examination in the European Patent Office
1. By decision of the President of the EPO dated 26 March 2009, the Parts A - D of the Guidelines for Examination have been amended pursuant to Article 10(2) EPC. Since this amendment has been occasioned primarily by the new fee structure entering into force on 1 April 2009, the revised Parts of the Guidelines are applicable as of that date. Part E remains unchanged.
2. The updated Guidelines are published in all three EPO languages on the EPO website and are available for downloading free of charge. No paper edition will be issued this time.
Amendments of the Guidelines for Examination in the European Patent Office
3. The amendments carried out in this update of the Guidelines are primarily concerned with the fee changes as of 1 April 2009. These changes are explained in detail in the Notice from the EPO dated 26 January 2009 concerning the 2009 fee structure (cf. OJ EPO 2009, 118) and the Notice supplementing the notice from the EPO dated 26 January 2009 concerning the 2009 fee structure (cf. OJ EPO 2009, 338). In addition, the Decisions of the President of the EPO dated 22 December 2008 concerning the refund of the search fee under Article 9(2) of the Rules relating to Fees (cf. OJ EPO 2009, 96) and concerning the refund of the international search fee by the EPO acting as International Searching Authority (cf. OJ EPO 2009, 114), as well as the fee changes which entered into force on 1 April 2008 have been incorporated into the Guidelines.
4. In particular, the following sections of the Guidelines have been updated in view of the following topics:
a. Two-tier system of claims fees: A-III, 9; A-IV, 1.4.2; B-X, 8; C-VI, 14.1;
b. Additional fee as part of the filing fee: A-III, 13 and 16; A-IV, 1.4.1; A-VII, 1.3; A-XI, 9.2.2;
c. Flat designation fee: A-III, 11; A-IV, 1.3.4 and 1.4.1; A-VI, 1.3; A-VII, 1.3; A-XI, 7.2; C-III, 8.1; C-IV, 7.1.1; C-VI, 1.4; 14.2;
d. Flat fee for grant and publication: A-IV, 1.1.1; A-XI, 5.2.3 and 10.2.7; C-VI, 2.5; 2.7; 4.9 and 14;
e. Three-month period for advance payment of renewal fees: A-XI, 5.1.1 and 5.2.4;
f. Refund of the search fee: A-IV, 1.8; A-XI, 10.2;
g. Abolition of the possibility of payment by cheque: A-II, 1.6; A-XI, 2, 4, 6 and 7.