Guide for Applicants - Part 1:How to get a European patent: C. Preparing and filing a European patent application, I. Formal requirements, States for which European patent applications may be filed

Guide for Applicants - Part 1
How to get a European patent

E / D / F


How to get a European patent
C. Preparing and filing a European patent application
I. Formal requirements

Entitlement to file European patent applications

Languages for European patent applications

States for which European patent applications may be filed

39	When filing a European patent application you must specify (designate) the contracting states in which you want your invention to be protected.

Art. 79

You may only designate states for which the EPC has already entered into force on the date of filing.

At present there are 28 such states: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and United Kingdom.

Switzerland and Liechtenstein may only be designated jointly.

OJ 1980, 407

In addition, European patent applications and patents may be extended to a number of states not party to the EPC, these at present being Albania, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (see point 26). References in this Guide to the designation of contracting states also apply to the extension to non-contracting states.

41	You must designate the contracting states in which you want protection on the Request for Grant form (see Supplements), but you can pay the designation fees later.

Guid. A-III, 12

By using the prescribed Request for Grant form (EPO Form 1001) and the prechecked declaration designating all EPC contracting states belonging to the EPC at the date of filing (Section 32.1), you can ensure that all designations are made at the time of filing. This gives you time - until expiry of the time limits for designation fee payment - to decide which contracting states you actually want your European patent to cover (see point 116).

If you pay seven times the amount of one designation fee, you are deemed to have paid the designation fees for all the contracting states, and you do not need to give any further information about contracting states. If you intend to pay fewer than seven designation fees, you must indicate the relevant contracting states in Section 32.2.

Art. 2, item 3, RFees