Recently, the European Patent Office (EPO) officially announced the comprehensive revision of the 2026 edition of the EPC Guidelines, PCT-EPO Guidelines and Unitary Patent Guidelines. The new guidelines officially entered into force on 1 April 2026 and replaced the 2025 edition.
The EPC Guidelines clarify four core aspects for entry into the European phase: basic procedures and jurisdiction, formal requirements and fee compliance, subsequent examination and amendment rules, as well as error correction and right remedies, making the rules for international applications entering Europe more centralized, clearer and easier to implement. Meanwhile, new examination standards for sufficiency of disclosure for further medical use claims have been added, and the dual proof standards of "full evidence" and "balance of probabilities" have been abolished, emphasizing the free evaluation of evidence.
The main changes to the concurrently updated PCT-EPO Guidelines are as follows: further clarification on the assessment of unity of invention and the standards for the reduction of international search fees, clarification of the signature requirements for the EPO as the selected Office, and the incorporation of new rules on non-written disclosure. In addition, corresponding updates have been made to the guidelines for procedural adjustments brought about by the digital transformation of MyEPO.
The Unitary Patent Guidelines have been revised in all chapters, with continuous supplementary clarifications on the practice of the Unified Patent Protection Division, new practical guidelines on general authorization, and detailed optimization of practical rules such as fees, remuneration, payment of renewal fees, notifications, time limits and oral proceedings, further standardizing the whole-process management of unitary patent protection.
The simultaneous update of the three guidelines marks the continuous improvement of the examination standards and procedural rules of the European patent system, further strengthening the uniformity, standardization and transparency of the European patent system.
The original guidelines can be consulted on the official EPO pages:
EPC Guidelines:https://link.epo.org/web/legal/guidelines-epc/en-epc-guidelines-2026-hyperlinked.pdf
PCT-EPO Guidelines:https://link.epo.org/web/legal/guidelines-pct/en-pct-epo-guidelines-2026-hyperlinked.pdf
Unitary Patent Guidelines:link.epo.org/web/legal/guidelines-up/en-up-guidelines-2026-hyperlinked.pdf
Source:https://www.epo.org/en/news-events/news/guidelines-2026-enter-force-streamlining-procedural-guidance
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