EPO's 2025 Patent Examination Guidelines officially come into effect

On April 1, 2025, the new EPO Examination Guidelines (EPC Guidelines), the EPO Search and Examination Guidelines as a PCT Institution (PCT-EPO Guidelines) and the Unified Patent Guidelines (UP Guidelines) came into force. The new Examination Guidelines have been published on the EPO website in the three official languages, replacing the previous March 2024 version.

The EPC and PCT-EPO Guides are available for download in PDF format and can be viewed online in HTML format. The PDF version includes a "clean copy" and an annotation file showing the modifications. In the HTML version, users can view the modifications by selecting the "Show modifications" box in the upper right corner. A list of modified sections and their corresponding hyperlinks are published with the Guides. This is also the first time that the EPO has published European Harmonized Patent Examination Guidelines, which are available online in HTML format.

If users need the European Patent Examination Guidelines, they can contact Yezhima directly to obtain the PDF version.