EPO Practice - Speeding Things Up At The EPO

Over the last few years, we have seen a number of procedural changes at the European Patent Office (EPO) looking to "raise the bar" in prosecution of European patent applications.  This culminated in measures such as clarification of the scope of protection prior to search (Rule 62a EPC and Rule 63 EPC), mandatory responses to the international written opinion prepared by the EPO (Rule 161 EPC) and the European search opinion (Rule 70a EPC), and only one opportunity to file voluntary amendments and mandatory provision of the basis for amendments (Rule 137 EPC).  Some changes, however, have seen a turnaround from the EPO, such as the two-year divisional deadline (Rule 36 EPC) and the restriction on searching inventions which have not been searched in the international phase (Rule 164 EPC).  While there is already a free mechanism for acceleration of examination proceedings, PACE, which ensures issuance of an examination report within three months, this procedure is not