Article 7⁴¹
Date to be considered as the date on which payment is made

(1) The date on which any payment shall be considered to have been made to the Office shall be the date on which the amount of the payment or of the transfer is actually entered in a bank account held by the Office. 

(2) Where the President of the Office allows, in accordance with the provisions of Article 5, paragraph 2 RFees, other methods of paying fees than those set out in Article 5, paragraph 1 RFees, he shall also lay down the date on which such payments shall be considered to have been made.

(3) Where, under the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2, payment of a fee is not considered to have been made until after the expiry of the period in which it should have been made, it shall be considered that this period has been observed if evidence is provided to the Office that the person who made the payment (a) fulfilled one of the following conditions in a Contracting State within the period within which the payment should have been made: 

(i) he effected the payment through a banking establishment; 

(ii) he duly gave an order to a banking establishment to transfer the amount of the payment; and.

(b) paid a surcharge of 10% on the relevant fee or fees, but not exceeding EUR 150; no surcharge is payable if a condition according to sub-paragraph (a) has been fulfilled not later than ten days before the expiry of the period for payment.

(4) The Office may request the person who made the payment to produce evidence as to the date on which a condition according to paragraph 3(a) was fulfilled and, where required, pay the surcharge referred to in paragraph 3(b), within a period to be specified by it. If he fails to comply with this request or if the evidence is insufficient, or if the required surcharge is not paid in due time, the period for payment shall be considered not to have been observed.