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A. General overview
B. The EPO as a PCT receiving Office
C. The EPO as ISA and SISA
D. The EPO as an IPEA
E. Euro-PCT procedure before the EPO as a designated or elected Office
Guide for applicants: PCT procedure before the EPO (Euro-PCT Guide)
Table of Contents - Guide for applicants: PCT procedure before the EPO (Euro-PCT Guide)
E. Euro-PCT procedure before the EPO as a designated (PCT Chapter I) or elected (PCT Chapter II) Office
VII. Filing fee
Page fee
Applicants are advised to compute the correct page fee with the help of Form 1200, section 6, and in particular the related table, which is part of Form 1200. Precise and correct indications in section 6 and the table are required to ensure that the EPO does not deem the application to be withdrawn due to payment of what appears to be an incorrect amount of the filing fee.
R. 38(2) EPC
Art. 2(1)1a RFees
GL/EPO A-III,13.2
As a general rule, the page fee is based on the international application as published, regardless of the language of publication. The pages of the description, claims and drawings are counted, plus one page in total for any pages with the bibliographic data and the abstract. Amended claims under Article 19 PCT are also part of the international publication and must be taken into account. They are considered to replace the claims as originally filed unless the applicant explicitly states that the procedure in the European phase is not to be based on them (see first check box in Section 6.1 of Form 1200). Furthermore, any amended pages annexed to the IPER are counted in addition, provided that the IPER is available to the EPO at the 31-month time limit, and unless the applicant has either indicated that the further proceedings are not to be based on them or clearly stated that they replace the corresponding pages as originally filed (see point 548). The latter statement can be made by ticking the first check box in Section 6.2.
OJ 2017, A74
However, the calculation of the page fee cannot be based on pages of the description or of the claims drafted partly in an official language of the EPO and partly in another language. Thus, special rules for calculating the page fee apply if the international application was not published in an official language of the EPO and amendments were filed upon entry into the European phase.
OJ 2009, 338
If amendments to the claims are filed for the procedure in the European phase, the entire set of claims must always be submitted, and this set will form the basis for calculating the page fee and will replace any earlier set of claims filed. For international applications not published in an official language of the EPO, the page fee is calculated on the basis of the translation of the set of claims as amended and the description of the international application as published.
If amendments to the description are filed, the pages of the description are counted as follows: the pages of the description as published, plus any pages submitted as amendments to the description, minus the pages which are replaced by the amendments to the description filed upon entry into the European phase. For international applications not published in an official language of the EPO, the page fee is calculated on the basis of the translation of the entire description, even if it is only amended in part. The same applies where the description has been amended under Article 34 PCT and the applicant wishes these amendments to be taken into consideration in the European phase.
If the application was processed under PCT Chapter II, the amendments filed under Article 34 PCT, which are annexed to the IPER, are to be taken into account in computing the page fee unless the applicant indicates that these pages are not to form the basis for the procedure in the European phase or clearly states that they replace the corresponding pages as originally filed. If no indications are given concerning the replacement of pages, the amendments annexed to the IPER are included in the page count in addition to the number of pages in the international publication (see point 543).
Form 1200 and any sequence listing presented as a separate part of the description in accordance with the requirements of WIPO Standard ST.25 are disregarded for the purpose of these calculations.
Pages with amendments filed after expiry of the 31-month time limit are not taken into account in calculating the page fee. Consequently, even if amendments submitted after expiry of the 31-month time limit reduce the number of pages already paid for, no refund will be made.
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