EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE
Information from the EPO
Decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 4 June 2020 amending Annex A.1 to the Arrangements for deposit accounts (ADA) ‒ Arrangements for the automatic debiting procedure (AAD) and Annex A.2 to the ADA ‒ Information from the EPO concerning the automatic debiting procedure
The President of the European Patent Office, having regard to Articles 5(2) and 7(2) of the Rules relating to Fees, has decided as follows:
Article 1
Point 10.3 AAD is replaced with the following text:
"10.3 On closure of the deposit account under point 2.2 or 2.3 ADA, the EPO revokes all pending automatic debit orders ex officio. In addition, the EPO reserves the right to revoke any automatic debit order ex officio if the procedure is used improperly and in particular if the conditions for operating the account laid down in point 4.1 ADA are not complied with."
Article 2
The following new paragraph (k) is added to point 3.2 AAD:
"(k) additional search fee in the event of correction of an erroneous filing (Rule 40bis PCT in conjunction with Rule 20.5bis PCT)."
Article 3
"Re point 10 AAD" in Annex A.2 to the ADA is replaced with the following text:
"Re point 10 AAD: Revocation of an automatic debit order
It is particularly important to note that the party to the proceedings/account holder must take action if he wishes to prevent a fee from being automatically debited – unless the deposit account is being closed (see point 10.3 AAD).
An automatic debit order must be revoked via Online Fee Payment in Online services (under "Payment Plan"). Account holders must pay special attention to the timing of the revocation of an automatic debit order so as to ensure that the relevant fees are included in or excluded from the automatic debiting procedure. Once an automatic debit order has been revoked, no more fees whose decisive payment date is on or after the date of revocation are debited automatically, and the EPO corrects any such debits already made. The EPO confirms the revocation of an automatic debit order.
There are various sets of circumstances in which an applicant, patent proprietor or representative (agent) can withdraw from the European or PCT proceedings before the EPO. It is therefore necessary to establish whether the automatic debiting procedure is to be continued. Hence the requirement to explicitly revoke the automatic debit order is to be complied with. Otherwise the automatic debiting procedure continues with the party or representative (agent) as hitherto."
Article 4
The second paragraph of point I.7 under "Re point 3 AAD" in Annex A.2 to the ADA is deleted.
Article 5
This decision enters into force on 1 July 2020.
Done at Munich, 4 June 2020
António CAMPINOS
President