1 March 2023
The EPC and PCT-EPO
Guidelines 2023, published in preview mode a month ago, entered into force
today, superseding the editions of March 2022.
The new EPC and
PCT-EPO Guidelines are published in the EPO’s three official languages on the EPO
website, where they can be downloaded free of charge in PDF format or accessed
section-by-section in HTML format. The PDF version is available both as a “clean
copy” and as a version showing all modifications. Within each section of the
HTML version, what has changed in the new edition can be
displayed by selecting the Show modifications box in the top
right-hand corner. A full list of the sections which have been amended,
together with corresponding hyperlinks, is published alongside the corresponding
Guidelines.
Public
consultation
A public user
consultation on the 2023 edition of the Guidelines is already underway and will
run until 4 April 2023. Users are encouraged to file their comments
through the dedicated webform. The anonymised comments will be discussed within
the SACEPO Working Party on Guidelines in May 2023. Your feedback will enable
us to better identify what matters to our users and help us improve the 2024
editions of the EPC and PCT-EPO Guidelines.