EPO fees 2026

Filing, search, examination and grant fees

These are the fees every direct European application meets on the way to grant. A Euro-PCT application pays the same filing, designation, examination and grant fees, with the search fee only if a supplementary European search is needed (see below).

• Page fee: pages of a sequence listing are not counted. The fee counts as part of the filing fee, so the micro-entity reduction applies to it (OJ EPO 2024, A8, point 11).
• Claims fees: a claim whose fee is not paid in time, even after the one-month reminder, is deemed abandoned (Rule 45(2) and (3)). If the text the examiner proposes for grant has more than 15 claims and the extra claims have not been paid for, the fees are due with the grant fee (Rule 71(4)).
• One designation fee: a single €720 fee covers every contracting state. Failing to pay it means the application is deemed withdrawn (Rule 39(2)).
• Grant fee: since 1 April 2009 it is a flat amount, whatever the length of the specification. The translations of the claims into the other two EPO languages are filed in the same 4-month period that follows the Rule 71(3) communication.

Renewal fees for a pending application

Renewal fees are due for the 3rd and every later year, counted from the filing date (Article 86(1)). Each falls due on the last day of the month containing the anniversary of filing. The 3rd-year fee can be paid up to 6 months early, the others up to 3 months early (Rule 51(1)). For a Euro-PCT application the dates run from the international filing date, not the priority date.

The obligation ends with the fee for the year in which the mention of grant is published (Article 86(2)). A patent granted in its 5th year therefore pays the 3rd, 4th and 5th year fees, €2,660 in all. From then on renewal fees go to each national office where the patent is validated, or to the EPO at the separate Unitary Patent rates (see our Unitary Patent guide). An application that stays pending into its 10th year and beyond pays €1,865 for every year up to the 20th.

If a renewal fee is not paid on the due date, it can still be paid within 6 months together with the additional fee of 50%. Further processing is not available for this period (Rule 135(2)); if the 6 months pass, the application is deemed withdrawn.

The 30% micro-entity reduction

Since 1 April 2024 the EPO has offered a 30% reduction to micro-entities under Rule 7a(3) EPC and Article 14(1) RFees. It was added alongside the older language-based reduction, which still exists (see below). Unlike that scheme, it does not depend on language, nationality or where the applicant is based. A US inventor filing in English qualifies on the same terms as a Portuguese university.

Who qualifies

• natural persons;
• microenterprises: fewer than 10 staff and an annual turnover or balance sheet total of no more than €2 million (EPO, applying Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC);
• non-profit organisations, universities and public research organisations.

SMEs larger than a microenterprise are not covered. Three further conditions apply:

• Five-filing cap: no reduction if the applicant has filed five or more European or Euro-PCT applications in the five years before the filing date (or European phase entry date) of the application concerned (Rule 7a(4)). Every earlier application counts, whatever happened to it.
• Every co-applicant: all applicants must qualify (Rule 7a(5)).
• On each payment date: eligibility is judged when each fee is paid (Rule 7a(6)). A status change must be reported at the latest when the next fee is paid (Rule 7b(2)).

The reduction covers the filing fee (with the page fee and any divisional fee), the search fee, the examination fee, the designation fee, the grant fee and renewal fees for the application. For a Euro-PCT application searched by the EPO as ISA, the international search fee actually paid is also reduced by 30%, through the examination fee (OJ EPO 2024, A8, point 12).

Declare the status by ticking the box in the request for grant (Form 1001) or the entry form (Form 1200), or file Form 1011, at the latest with the first reduced payment (Rule 7b(1)). Getting this wrong is costly. An unduly reduced fee counts as not paid, and the application is deemed withdrawn (Rule 7b(4)). Further processing or re-establishment can repair it if you make up the difference, and for renewal fees the usual 6-month period applies.

The language reduction

The older scheme still exists alongside it. An SME, natural person, non-profit, university or public research organisation with its residence or principal place of business in an EPC state whose official language is not English, French or German gets 30% off the filing fee and the examination fee if it files the application or the request for examination in that language (Rule 7a(1) and (2)). A Spanish SME filing in Spanish qualifies; a German one filing in German does not. Both reductions can apply to the same fee. They are taken one after the other, so a €1,000 fee falls to €700 and then to €490.

Late payment, further processing and re-establishment

Most missed EPO time limits can be repaired by further processing, which is cheap if the missed act was a payment. Re-establishment is the fallback where further processing is ruled out (Rule 135(2)), for example for the 12-month priority period.

Opposition, limitation and appeal fees

None of these is reduced under the micro-entity scheme. The appeal fee has its own lower rate for the entities listed in Rule 7a(2)(a) to (d), which includes SMEs and not only micro-entities.

PCT fees at the EPO and Euro-PCT entry

The EPO acts as receiving Office, International Searching Authority (ISA), Supplementary International Searching Authority (SISA) and International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA). Its fees in those roles, from 1 April 2026:

The international filing fee is set by WIPO and, like the supplementary search handling fee (CHF 200, paid to WIPO), can change during the year. Nationals of certain states get reductions on the search and preliminary examination fees (OJ EPO 2025, A54).

Entering the European phase

A Euro-PCT application must take the steps in Rule 159(1) within 31 months of the priority date: the filing fee, the designation fee and the request for examination with its fee if those periods have already run out, the 3rd-year renewal fee if it has fallen due, and claims fees for claims over 15 (Rule 162(1)). The search fee depends on who searched it:

• EPO as ISA or SISA: no supplementary European search and no search fee. The examination fee is then €2,240.
• Austrian, Spanish, Swedish, Finnish or Turkish office, Visegrad or Nordic Patent Institute as ISA: supplementary search fee reduced by €1,365, to €230.
• Any other ISA (the USPTO, KIPO, CNIPA, JPO, IP India and others): full supplementary search fee of €1,595, and the examination fee is €2,010.
• EPO drew up the IPER: examination fee reduced by 75% (Art. 14(2) RFees).

Extension and validation fees

Paid to the EPO in the same period as the designation fee, for states outside the EPC that recognise European patents. Late payment is possible within 2 months with a 50% surcharge. The national steps after grant are covered in our guide to European patent validation.

Payment deadlines at a glance

1. Filing + 1 month: filing fee, page fee and search fee (Rule 38). Claims fees within 1 month of filing the first set of claims (Rule 45).
2. End of the month of the 2nd anniversary: 3rd-year renewal fee, then one each year (Rule 51).
3. Mention of the search report + 6 months: designation fee, examination fee, and extension or validation fees (Rules 39 and 70).
4. Priority + 31 months: Euro-PCT entry fees (Rule 159).
5. Rule 71(3) communication + 4 months: grant fee, any outstanding claims fees, and the claim translations.

A payment counts as made on the day the money reaches an EPO bank account (Art. 7(1) RFees), so most applicants pay from a deposit account through Central Fee Payment. A fee paid short is treated as not paid, although the EPO can overlook small shortfalls where justified (Art. 8 RFees). A search fee is refunded in full if the application is withdrawn before the search starts, and the examination fee is refunded in full if the application is withdrawn before substantive examination starts, and by half if it is withdrawn later but before the time limit for replying to the Examining Division's first communication expires (Arts. 9 and 11 RFees).

Worked example

A company files a European application online with 22 claims and 48 pages, and the mention of grant is published in the 5th year from filing. It is not a micro-entity.

• Filing €135, plus page fee 13 × €17 = €221
• Search €1,595, plus claims fees 7 × €290 = €2,030
• Designation €720 and examination €2,010
• Renewal fees for years 3 to 5: €2,660
• Grant €1,135

Total EPO fees: €10,506. The same application from a qualifying micro-entity pays €7,963.20: 30% less on everything except the €2,030 of claims fees. Cutting the claim set to 15 before filing would save €2,030 outright. For the costs after grant (validation, translations, national renewal fees and attorney time) see how much a European patent costs.

More EPO guides

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• The Unitary Patent and the UPC, explained

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• How much does a European patent cost?

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• European patent opposition at the EPO

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• Supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) in Europe

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• The European search report and EESR, explained

  X, Y and A citation categories, the search opinion, Rule 62a and 63 limited searches, and the Rule 70a deadline to reply.

• Entering the European phase from a PCT application

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• European divisional applications under Rule 36 EPC

  When the parent is pending, fees by generation, back renewal fees, the Article 76 added-matter trap and timing.

• How to speed up EPO prosecution: PACE, PPH and waivers

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• Invalidity search: prior art to challenge a patent

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• Patent landscape analysis, step by step

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• How to search Espacenet

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• Google Patents search guide

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• The Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC), explained

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• Patent search Boolean operators and search strings

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• The PCT application: timeline, fees and national phase

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• How much does a patent cost?

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• How long does a patent last?

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