ARTICLE · 13 MARCH 2018

EPO Fee Changes From 1 April 2018

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Instead of its customary biennial fee increase to reflect inflation, on 1 April 2018 the EPO will make selected changes to its fees.

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Instead of its customary biennial fee increase to reflect inflation, on 1 April 2018 the EPO will make selected changes to its fees. As explained below, these changes could potentially impact on your patent strategy.

Fees during the International (PCT) stage

The following changes will apply to PCT applications filed on or after 1 April 2018:

The international search fee, any supplementary international search fee, and the preliminary examination fee levied by the EPO will all be reduced by €100.
The EPO has also announced that various fee incentives and penalties will be introduced depending on whether all relevant documents are submitted in character-coded (XML)/DOCX format (see below).

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