The EPO will act as a designated Office for those Contracting States to the EPC in respect of which the PCT has entered into force and which are designated in the international application, provided that the applicant informed the receiving Office in the international application that he wished to obtain a European patent for these States. The same applies if, in the international application, the applicant designated a Contracting State of which the national law provides that designation of that State has the effect of the application being for a European patent. The EPO is automatically designated in all international applications filed as of 1 January 2004.

With regard to deadlines and procedural steps before the EPO as a designated Office, see the Guide for applicants: "How to get a European patent, Part 2: PCT procedure before the EPO - Euro-PCT", April 2002. For applications concerning nucleotide and amino acid sequences, see A-VII, 4.2 and Supplement No. 2 to OJ 11/1998.

In order to initiate the European phase before the EPO acting as a designated Office, the requirements for entry into the European phase according to Rule 107 must be complied with (see A-VII, 1.2 and 1.3). For entry into the European phase, applicants are strongly recommended to use Form 1200, obtainable from the EPO free of charge.