European Patent Office Closure Dates over Christmas and the New Year

The European Patent Convention (EPC) is an agreement between 38 European countries.

The EPC allows you to apply for a patent at the EPO, which has offices in Berlin, The Hague and Munich.

The EPO reviews and examines a patent application before deciding on whether to grant a patent. During the process of review and examination the EPO issues communications which include deadlines for response.

However, if a deadline falls on a day on which one of the filing offices of the EPO is closed, then that deadline is extended to the first day thereafter on which all the filing offices are open.

In view of the current situation with coronavirus, the EPO is extending the list of days on which its filing offices are closed for the receipt of documents.

At least one of the filing offices of the EPO will now be closed from 24^th December to 10^th January inclusive. Accordingly, the last day all the filing offices of the EPO will be open this year is 23^rd December 2020. The first day all the filing offices of the EPO will be open next year is 11^th January 2021.

This means that all time limits for filing documents and making payments that expire between 24^th December 2020 and 10^th January 2021 will be extended until 11 January 2021.