Validation of European patents in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LA) with effect from 1 April 2025
This text is intended for publication in the monthly edition of the Official Journal (OJ) of the EPO. It is made available in advance on the EPO website merely as a courtesy to the public. Only the text subsequently published as part of the monthly edition of the OJ is authentic. It cannot be guaranteed that this advance version accurately replicates that text.
1. On 13 May 2024, the President of the European Patent Office and the Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) signed an agreement on the validation of European patents (validation agreement). On 21 February 2025, the Instruction for Validation of European Patents in Lao PDR under the Validation Agreement No. 0153/MOIC, as supplemented by Additional Recommendation No. 0153/DIP, was published, amending and supplementing the revised Patent Law of Lao PDR.[1] These changes to the country's industrial property legislation have created the legal basis necessary for the validation system to operate.
2. This agreement enters into force on 1 April 2025. From that date it will be possible to validate European patent applications and patents in Lao PDR, where, after validation, they will confer essentially the same protection as patents granted by the EPO for the now 39 member states of the European Patent Organisation.
3. Validation in Lao PDR is mainly governed by parts I to V of the Instruction for Validation of European Patents in Lao PDR and the Additional Recommendation, pursuant to the Patent Law of Lao PDR.
4. Validation in Lao PDR occurs at the applicant's request.
4.1 Validation for Lao PDR is deemed requested for any European or international application filed on or after 1 April 2025. It is not available for applications filed prior to that date, or for any European patents resulting from such applications.
4.2 The validation fee is EUR 180.[2] It must be paid to the EPO within six months of the date on which the European Patent Bulletin mentions the publication of the European search report, or, where applicable, within the period for performing the acts required for an international application's entry into the European phase.
4.3 After expiry of the relevant basic time limit, the validation fee can still be validly paid within a two-month grace period, provided that within that period a surcharge of 50% is also paid.[3] If the designation fee has not been paid and further processing is available, the validation fee can still be paid along with the further processing concerning the designation fee. If the validation fee is not paid in due time, the request for validation is deemed withdrawn.[4]
5. An option for selecting Lao PDR as a validation state will be provided in the EPO's online filing tools,[5] i.e. on the request for grant of a European patent (EPO Form 1001) and the request for entry into the European phase (EPO Form 1200), and will be available to applicants from 1 April 2025. The updated paper forms will be available on the EPO website from the same date.
6. Further information about validating European patent applications and patents in Lao PDR will be published in the EPO's Official Journal and then incorporated into its brochure on "National law relating to the EPC"[6] once the validation agreement with Lao PDR has entered into force.
[1] Law on Intellectual Property No. 50/NA of Lao PDR as adopted on 20 November 2023 and in force since 24 January 2024, as amended and supplemented by the Instruction for Validation of European Patents in Lao PDR under the Validation Agreement No. 0153/MOIC adopted on 31 January 2025, published on 21 February 2025, and Additional Recommendation No. 0153/DIP dated 13 February 2025.
[2] The code for the validation fee for Lao PDR (LA) is 425.
[3] The code for the surcharge on the validation fee for Lao PDR (LA) is 455.
[4] See the notice from the European Patent Office dated 5 February 2015 concerning the time limits for paying validation fees, OJ EPO 2015, A19.
[5] The web-based services are Online Filing 2.0 and EPO Online Filing. If using EPO Online Filing, applicants are reminded to download the latest software version available on epo.org.