Extended European Search Report

On 1 July, new rule 44a EPC comes into effect. According to that rule, the search examiner will send an opinion on patentability with the European Search Report, the whole to be known as an EESR (Extended European Search Report).

As this effectively pulls forward some of the examination work, the search and examination fees will, on 1 July, change to EUR 960 and 1280 respectively. However, for Euro-PCT applications where no supplementary search is drawn up, the examination fee will remain at EUR 1430.

If a search fee is underpaid at the old level in the 6 months following 1 July, then the EPO will invite you to pay the shortfall within two months. However, there does not appear to be a safety net for underpayment of the examination fee, which suggests that ignorance is excusable but confusion is not!

Chapter and verse can be found here:

http://www.european-patent-office.org/epo/ca/ca_pdf/cad18_04.pdf