Repayment of renewal fees which are not due
From 7 October 2024 the EPO will automatically repay those renewal fees which are not due back to the payment source, thereby reducing the administrative burden on applicants and the EPO.
In line with the Strategic Plan 2028 measures will be rolled out to further streamline the processing of undue renewal fee payments and to eliminate the thousands of refunds unnecessarily processed each year. As from 7 October 2024 debit orders filed via EPO Online Filing (OLF) or Online Filing 2.0 (OLF 2.0) relating to undue renewal fees for European patent applications will be automatically detected and the amount directly repaid to the payment source. This will make the current cumbersome refund procedure redundant and thus reduce the administrative burden on applicants and the EPO.
A repayment mechanism for undue payments made for Unitary Patents was first introduced in 2023. Given the very positive results obtained, the EPO has decided to implement this mechanism in relation to attempts to pay undue renewal fees for European patent applications through debit orders submitted via OLF or OLF 2.0.
In this context the EPO’s Central Fee Payment (CFP) has the advantage that it only ever accepts payments of renewal fees which are due and is thus considered the first-choice tool for fee payments. All other fee payments that are not due will continue to be refunded in accordance with the applicable refund procedures.
Further improvements to the EPO’s online payment systems are planned for 2025, as part of continuing efforts to simplify the operation of Europe’s patent system for the benefit of all applicants and users.
Further information
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