EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE
Information from the EPO
Notice from the European Patent Office dated 24 April 2023 concerning the revision of WIPO Standard ST.26
1. This notice complements the decision of the President of the EPO dated 24 April 2023 concerning the revision of WIPO Standard ST.26.
2. Revisions to WIPO Standard ST.26 were proposed by the international Sequence Listings Task Force in order to correct editorial mistakes in version 1.5. The proposed revisions were adopted by the Committee on WIPO Standards (CWS) at its tenth session.1 The CWS decided that version 1.6 of WIPO Standard ST.26 should enter into force on 1 July 2023.2
3. The President of the EPO is the one who decides the date on which version 1.6 of WIPO Standard ST.26 should apply to European patent applications, in compliance with Article 1(5) of the decision of the President of the EPO dated 9 December 2021.3 The update of WIPO Standard ST.26 is mostly of an editorial nature, so it has been decided that sequence listings complying with either version 1.5 or 1.6 will be accepted as of 1 July 2023 for all European patent applications for which a Standard ST.26 sequence listing is required.
4. Version 1.6 of WIPO Standard ST.26 does not introduce any substantial amendments. The new version is therefore not expected to have any impact on users or on the EPO. Nevertheless, we strongly recommend using the latest version of the WIPO Sequence software when generating a Standard ST.26-compliant sequence listing. Please sign up for WIPO's mailing list on WIPO Sequence and related issues to ensure that you are aware of any software updates.
5. The Director General of WIPO is the one who decides the date on which version 1.6 of WIPO Standard ST.26 should apply to international applications.4 Corresponding information is published in the PCT Gazette.
1 Tenth session held in Geneva from 21 to 25 November 2022. See CWS/10/13 REV.2.
2 See CWS/10/21 dated 25 November 2022, Agenda item 12 (b), point 51.
3 See OJ EPO 2021, A96.
4 See Administrative Instructions under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, Annex C.5.