Share on LinkedInShare on LinkedIn

ARTICLE · 01 APRIL 2026

EPO Guidelines For Examination: 2026 Amendments & Updates

Murgitroyd
Explore more from Murgitroyd

The European Patent Office has released its 2026 Guidelines for Examination, incorporating two landmark rulings that fundamentally change how patent claims are interpreted and what constitutes prior art. These updates introduce mandatory use of patent descriptions in claim interpretation, eliminate the reproducibility requirement for marketed products as prior art, and establish the EPO's first formal guidance on artificial intelligence in patent proceedings.

AfghanistanIntellectual Property
Murgitroyd & Company
Murgitroyd & Company
Author LinkedIn connections

The European Patent Office’s Guidelines for Examination are the basis for the implementation of the European Patent Convention.

They provide standard instructions for EPO examiners, ensuring legal consistency and uniform practice throughout the entire patent lifecycle.

Revised annually to reflect case law and evolving practice, they are essential reading for patent attorneys and applicants prosecuting applications through the EPO.

The latest edition came into force on 1 April 2026. This was a significant update, embedding two landmark rulings (G 1/24 and G 1/23).

The guidelines update also involved noteworthy procedural changes, the EPO’s first ever formal guidance on AI and changes to accelerated search under the PACE scheme.

We operate a free-to-view policy, asking only that you register in order to read all of our content. Please login or register to view the rest of this article.

Register for freeORLog in

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

View source

Related Articles

Legal Intelligence Newsletters: sign up for the latest legal and regulatory news on your chosen topics

Read more about

Related Comparative Guides

See more popular content from

Article

EU AI Act News: Digital Omnibus On AI, New Guidance On Risk Classification, GPAI, And Transparency Obligations

The European Union's Artificial Intelligence Act continues to evolve with significant regulatory updates that reshape compliance timelines and clarify key obligations. Recent developments include the Digital Omnibus on AI, which extends implementation deadlines for high-risk systems and introduces new prohibitions on harmful AI applications, alongside comprehensive guidance from the European Commission on classification criteria, transparency requirements, and general-purpose AI model obligations.
European UnionIntellectual Property
Mayer Brown
Mayer Brown
Article

Music Sampling and Pastiche: CJEU Defines the Scope of a Key Copyright Exception

The Court of Justice of the European Union has delivered its first definitive interpretation of the "pastiche" exception in EU copyright law, establishing that sampling and other creative borrowing can qualify as fair use when they engage in recognizable artistic dialogue with source material. This landmark ruling in the decades-long Kraftwerk sampling dispute charts a middle course between overly narrow and catch-all approaches, requiring that borrowed elements be used openly and recognizably rather than c
European UnionIntellectual Property
Jones Day
Jones Day
Article

G 1/25: Description Amendments At The EPO - Business As Usual?

The Enlarged Board of Appeal has issued its decision in G 1/25, addressing a fundamental question in European patent practice: when must patent descriptions be amended to align with amended claims? This landmark ruling establishes new guidance on the relationship between claims and descriptions, building upon the interpretive framework set forth in G 1/24 and potentially reshaping how practitioners approach description amendments at the EPO.
AfghanistanIntellectual Property
Potter Clarkson LLP
Potter Clarkson LLP
Article

The Decision in G 1/25: A More Relaxed Approach to Description Amendments in Europe?

The European Patent Office's Enlarged Board of Appeal has issued its decision in G 1/25, addressing the contentious practice of description amendments in European patent applications. This decision establishes new guidelines on when patent descriptions must be modified to align with claims, potentially reshaping prosecution strategies across Europe. The ruling adopts a middle ground between the EPO's traditional approach requiring extensive amendments and recent case law suggesting such changes lack explici
European UnionIntellectual Property
Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP
Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP
Article

Acceleration Of Adoption Of Reusable Fibre-based E-commerce Packaging

DS Smith and its partners have launched the Reuse Fast Track initiative, Europe's first large-scale reuse acceleration program using existing industrial solutions for fiber-based e-commerce packaging. The program aims to circulate 250,000 reusable packages within 12 months while gathering critical data on consumer behavior and return rates. How will intellectual property strategies enable the scaling of circular packaging systems aligned with the EU's upcoming Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation?
AfghanistanIntellectual Property
Marks & Clerk
Marks & Clerk