Form EP1200 – Entry into the European phase

Structure of XML files for EP1200

The following four XML files are required for a EP1200 application (also known as Euro-PCT(1200)) to be imported:

File name	DTD	Description
package-data.xml	package-data.dtd	References attached documents, except those already referenced in application-body.xml file.
application-body.xml	application-body-v1-7.dtd	References attached documents as part of patent specification (amendments or translations of technical documents).
ep-euro-pct.xml	ep-euro-pct-v1-17.dtd	Application data as entered in Form EP1200, references other attached documents.

Unlike in EP1001, the technical documents (patent specification) cannot be attached in XML format. This is why the application-body.xml file is only used for referencing attached files and does not contain any additional text.

The XML structure of the package-data.xml and application-body.xml files is the same as for EP1001 applications – see: Form EP1001 / References from XML files to other files.

More information on the XML structure of the ep-euro-pct.xml file can be found in the following sections.

Basic structure of ep-euro-pct.xml

The ep-euro-pct.xml file contains the application data in Form EP1200. Its root element is <ep-euro-pct>, which contains the following attributes:

XML Attribute	Attribute Description	Example/fixed value
lang	Procedural language for the attached/previous application, indicated by its 2-letter language code (en, fr, de).	E.g.: "en"
dtd-version	Version of DTD used.	Fixed value: "1.0"
ro	Code for the filing office. For EP1200 filings in OLF2.0, this will always be "EP" for EPO.	Fixed value: "EP".
produced-by	Indicates role of party generating the submission (e.g., applicant).	Fixed value: "applicant"
date-produced	Date/time of package generation in "YYYYMMDD hh:mm:ss" format.	E.g.: "20240122 11:19:17"
regional-phase-office	Indicates if EPO is the filing office for the EP1200 request either as designated or elected.	E.g.: "designated".
amendments-enclosed	Indicates if the EP1200 request encloses amendment documents ("yes") or not ("no").	E.g.: "no".
comments-on	Indicates if the EP1200 request contains comments.	Fixed value: "no".

The table below lists the top-level XML elements under <ep-euro-pct> and their key attributes:

XML Element	Description and attributes
<file-reference-id>	User's file reference. This is the internal ID name for the EP1200 submission, as it will appear on the OLF2.0 GUI for edition/review. Can be any name chosen by the user with the following limitations: Up to 25 characters long. No blank spaces. E.g.: <file-reference-id>My_1200_request</file-reference-id>
<request-petition>	Descriptive name of the request corresponding to the form. For EP1200, this will be a fixed string as follows: <request-petition>Entry into the European phase (EPO as designated or elected Office) is hereby requested.</request-petition>
<parties>	List of parties involved in the application (applicants, inventors, representatives…). This element has no text value nor attributes, and instead contains a set of children elements. Please see EP1200 – Parties for details and example cases.
<priority-claims>	Includes the declaration of one or more priority claims and contains the information regarding them. The data in this element is populated with the values corresponding to the fields in section Information about international phase in the EP Entry tab of form EP1200. Please see EP1200 – EP Entry for details and example cases. Includes the declaration of one or more priority claims and contains the information regarding them.
<search-authority>	Indicates the regional office which acts as the International searching authority (ISA). The country/region for the ISA is indicated with a <isa> sub-element containing a <country> entry indicating its 2-letter code. E.g.: <search-authority><isa><country>EP</country></isa></search-authority> Please note that, if the value of the <country> sub-element is different than EP, some rules may be applied to enable/block other fields in the EP1200 form.
<check-list>	Contains a list of children nodes corresponding to the type of document (request, description, claims…). E.g.: <cl-description> Please refer to the following chapters on this guide for the full list of all sub-elements and attributes applicable to each type of document and other relevant details: EP1200 – Documents - Amendments EP1200 - Documents - Document details and number of pages Each of the aforementioned child elements indicates numeric values related to each of the documents referred to in the submission, such as the total count of pages on it, no. of the first and last pages, etc. Note that this section should always contain, at least, a single empty child element <cl-request/> E.g.: <check-list> <cl-request/> <cl-claims number-of-claims=""/> </check-list>
<ep-language-of-filing>	For EP1200, this element indicates the languages of both the international publication and for the proceedings before the EPO with their corresponding 2-letter country codes: Language of the international publication: indicated via the element's lang-code attribute. Language of the proceedings before the EPO: indicated via the element's value. E.g.: <ep-language-of-filing lang-code="ar">en</ep-language-of-filing> Please see EP1200 – EP Entry for details and example cases.
<ep-office-specific-data>	EP1200 request data specific to the filing office (declarations, fees…). Attributes: office: Filing office to which the specific data in the element applies. For EP1200 filed to EPO, this should have a fixed value of "EP". lang: Procedural language, same as in element <ep-euro-pct>. E.g.: "en" This element will contain the details for states, biological material and sequence listings, information about the attached documents, the information regarding fees, and (optionally) any enclosed annotations to EPO. Please see the following subchapters for details and example cases: EP(1200) – States/BIOM/SEQL – States EP1200 – States/BIOM/SEQL – Biological Material EP1200 – States/BIOM/SEQL – Sequence Listings EP1200 – Documents EP1200 – Fees EP1200 – Annotations For a list of <ep-office-specific-data> sub-elements relevant to the EP Entry tab, please see this chapter: 6.3 EP1200 - EP Entry

Below is an example showing the general structure in ep-euro-pct.xml and the top-level elements listed in the previous table:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE ep-euro-pct
 SYSTEM "ep-euro-pct-v1-17.dtd">
<ep-euro-pct lang="en"
            dtd-version="1.0"
            produced-by="applicant"
            ro="EP"
            date-produced=""
            regional-phase-office="designated"
            amendments-enclosed="no"
            comments-on="no">
  <file-reference-id>1200_designated</file-reference-id>
  <request-petition> Entry into the European phase (EPO as designated or elected Office) is hereby requested.</request-petition>
  <parties>
     …
  </parties>
  <priority-claims>
     …
  </priority-claims>
  <search-authority>
     <isa>
        <country>EP</country>
     </isa>
  </search-authority>
  <check-list>
     <cl-request/>
     …
  </check-list>
  <ep-language-of-filing lang-code="en">en</ep-language-of-filing>
  <ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
     …
  </ep-office-specific-data>
</ep-euro-pct>

The details for the child elements of <ep-euro-pct>, their relevant attributes and how they are mapped to the different form fields and tabs (e.g., the list of involved parties and their contact information in the <parties> element, filled out via the Parties tab in the EP1200 form) will be described in subsequent section in this form's chapter.

Document codes and file types for EP1200

For the successful import of XML data into Online Filing 2.0, the values for the <document-name> element, the doc-type attribute and the file attribute, must follow the standard values for the document code as listed in the table below.

XML files and package-level documents

Document code	EPO file name *)	Description
APPBODYXML	application-body.xml	Application body (see: Structure of XML files for EP1200)
APPMERGEXML	result-filing.xml	Package
BIODEPXML		Biology
EP1200XML	ep-euro-pct.xml	Application data (see: Structure of XML files for EP1200)
PACKDATAXML	package-data.xml	Package
RECXML	xmit-receipt.xml	Receipt in XML format
ADDRESSXML	address-matching.xml	Address

Amendments and translations

Document code	EPO file name *)	Description
AMSPECEPO	AMSPECEPO-1.pdf	Amended specification (contains at least description and abstract)
CLMS-HWA	CLMS-HWA-1.pdf	Amended claims with annotations
DESC-HWA	DESC-HWA.pdf	Amended description with annotations
DRAW-HWA	DRAW-HWA-1.pdf	Amended drawings with annotations
SPECTRANEPO	SPECTRANEPO-1.pdf	Translation of international application (contains at least description and abstract)
AMCLMSTRAN	AMCLMSTRAN.pdf	Translation of amended claims (only if EPO as designated office is selected)
IPERTRAN	IPERTRAN.pdf	Translation of annex(es) to the international preliminary examination report
PRIOTRANAPP	PRIOTRANAPP-1.pdf	Translation of priority application(s)

Optional additional files for technical documents

Document code	EPO file name *)	Description
OLF-ARCHIVE	OLF-ARCHIVE.zip	Pre-conversion archive (contains original technical documents before conversion to PDF, e.g. DOC format)

Biological material and sequence listings

Document code	EPO file name *)	Description
SEQLTXT	SEQLTXT.app	Sequence listing in APP format (WIPO ST.25)
SEQLTXT	SEQLTXT.seq	Sequence listing in SEQ format (WIPO ST.25)
SEQLTXT	SEQLTXT.txt	Sequence listing in TXT format (ASCII text, WIPO ST.25)
SEQLZIP	SEQLTXT.zip	Sequence listing in ZIP format (WIPO ST.25)
SEQLXML26	SEQLXML26.xml	Sequence listing in XML format (WIPO ST.26)
SEQLZIP26	SEQLZIP26.zip	Sequence listing in ZIP format (WIPO ST.26)
BIOMRECEIPT	BIOM-RECEIPT-1.pdf	Receipt(s) of deposit issued by depositary institution
BIOMWAIV	BIOM-WAIV-1.pdf	Waiver under Rule 33(2)

Additional documents

Document code	EPO file name *)	Description
1003	SPECAUTH-1.pdf	Specific authorisation
1004	GENAUTH-1.pdf	General authorisation
REPWOIPER	REPLYWO-1.pdf	Reply to written opinion on IPER (EPO as elected office)
REPWOISA	REPLYWO-1.pdf	Reply to written opinion on ISA (EPO as designated office)
CERTPRIO	CERTPRIO-1.pdf	Certified priority document (digitally signed)
OTHERPDF	OTHER-1.pdf	Other document in PDF format
PRSR	PRSR-1.pdf	Search results under Rule 141(1) EPC

Internal documents generated by Online Filing 2.0 (not to be imported)

Document code	EPO file name *)	Description
1001	epf1200.pdf	Application in PDF format

Other document codes (PDF)

Document code	EPO file name *)	Description
ADDRREPPDF	address-matching.pdf	Address
BIOM	BIOM-1.pdf	Letter concerning biological material
CERTPRIO	CERTPRIO-1.pdf
DRAW	DRAW-1.pdf	Drawings
DRAWTRAN	DRAWTRAN-1.pdf
FEESHEETINT	feesheetint.pdf
FEESHEETPDF	fee-corrections.pdf
RECPDF	receipt.pdf	Electronic receipt
SPECEPO	SPECEPO-1.pdf	Combined specification/claims/abstract

Other document codes (ZIP)

Document code	EPO file name *)	Description
OLF-ARCHIVE	OLF-ARCHIVE.zip	Pre-conversion OLF archive

Graphic files

Document code	EPO file name *)	Description
OTHERTIF	<filename>.tif	Package
SIGNIMGTIF	<Request>-signature-1.tif	Unexpected/undefined document

*) If there is more than one file of this type of document, the character 1 in the file names must be replaced by 2, 3 etc.

EP1200 – EP Entry

Form EP1200 starts with the EP Entry tab, where the roles for the EPO are selected and the data referring to the previous application is entered.

The basic request information listed above is imported from the following top-level XML elements and attributes under <ep-euro-pct> previously mentioned.

The data in section <priority-claims> is populated with the values corresponding to the fields in panel Information about international phase in the EP Entry tab of form EP1200. This section will contain a <ep-priority-claim> element for each referred application/publication no. in the aforementioned panel, following the structure and order indicated below:

• PCT application number (mandatory): This entry must always appear and be the first in the sequence. The corresponding <ep-priority-claim> entry must contain:

  • Attributes sequence="1" (1st claim) and kind="international"

  • Sub-element <country> indicating the country/region of the corresponding PCT application.

  • Sub-element <doc-number> indicating the PCT application no.

  • Sub-element <date> indicating the international date of filing of the PCT application.

  • E.g.:

<ep-priority-claim sequence="1" kind="international">
        <country>IB</country>
        <doc-number>PCT/GB2020/098123</doc-number>
        <date>20201101</date>
     </ep-priority-claim>

• EP application number (optional): An additional <ep-priority-claim> entry may appear if an EP application no. is provided, and it must contain:

  • Attributes sequence="n" (where n is the next available sequence number) and kind="regional"

  • Sub-element <country> indicating "EP" as the country/region of the application.

  • Sub-element <doc-number> indicating the EP application no.

  • Empty sub-element <date/>.

  • E.g.:

<ep-priority-claim sequence="2" kind="regional">
        <country>EP</country>
        <doc-number>EP16155428.2</doc-number>
        <date/>
     </ep-priority-claim>

• International publication number (optional): An additional <ep-priority-claim> entry may appear if an international publication no. is provided (in WOxxxxxxxxxx format), and it must contain:

  • Attributes sequence="n" (where n is the next available sequence number) and kind="international"

  • Sub-element <country> indicating the country/region of the corresponding PCT application.

  • Sub-element <doc-number> indicating the international publication no.

  • Empty sub-element <date/>.

  • E.g.:

<ep-priority-claim sequence="3" kind="international">
        <country>IB</country>
        <doc-number>WO9999999999</doc-number>
        <date/>
     </ep-priority-claim>

Finally, the data in <ep-office-specific-data> relevant to options in the EP Entry tab in EP1200 are the following:

• <waiver-to-indicate-further-processing/>: If the option "Waiver of the right to be asked whether to proceed further with the application (Rule 70(2) EPC)" applies, this empty element must be present under section <ep-declarations>. E.g.:

<ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
<ep-designated-states waiver-communication-and-processing-of-non-designated-states="no">
…
</ep-designated-states>
<ep-declarations>
    <waiver-to-indicate-further-processing/>
</ep-declarations>
	…

• <waiver-for-communication/>: If the option "Waiver of the right to the communication under Rule 161(1) or (2) EPC and Rule 162 EPC" applies, this empty element must be present under section <ep-declarations>. E.g.:

<ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
<ep-designated-states waiver-communication-and-processing-of-non-designated-states="no">
…
</ep-designated-states>
<ep-declarations>
    <waiver-for-communication/>
</ep-declarations>
	        …

• <declaration-of-entity-or-natural-person/>: If the option "The/Each applicant requests a reduction of fees under Rule 7a(1) EPC and is a natural person or entity under Rule 7a(2) EPC." applies, this empty element must be present under section <ep-declarations>. E.g.:

<ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
<ep-designated-states waiver-communication-and-processing-of-non-designated-states="no">
…
</ep-designated-states>
<ep-declarations>
    <declaration-of-entity-or-natural-person/>
</ep-declarations>
	…

• <early-processing/>: If the option "Request for early processing of the application under Article 23(2) PCT / Article 40(2) PCT" (i.e., 'early entry into the European phase') applies, this empty element must be present under section <ep-declarations>. E.g.:

<ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
<ep-designated-states waiver-communication-and-processing-of-non-designated-states="no">
…
</ep-designated-states>
<ep-declarations>
    <early-processing/>
</ep-declarations>
	…

• Note that, for declaration <early-processing/> to be applicable, an <ep-priority-claim> entry referring to an international (PCT) application with a <date> up to 31 months old must be present under <priority-claims>. E.g., if the current date is 08-05-2024:

<priority-claims>
 <ep-priority-claim sequence="1" kind="international">
   <country>IB</country>
   <doc-number>PCT/GB2020/098123</doc-number>
   <date>20230501</date>
 </ep-priority-claim>
 …

• <declaration-of-micro-entity/>: If the option "The/Each applicant requests a reduction of fees under Rule 7a(3) EPC and is a micro-entity under Rule 7a(3) EPC" applies, this empty element must be present under section <ep-declarations>. E.g.:

<ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
<ep-designated-states waiver-communication-and-processing-of-non-designated-states="no">
…
</ep-designated-states>
<ep-declarations>
    <declaration-of-micro-entity/>
</ep-declarations>
	…

Please note that, when multiple of the declarations listed above need to be included under element <ep-declarations>, it is important to insert them in the specific order shown in the example snippet below, in order to avoid issues during importation or submission:

      <ep-declarations>
         <waiver-to-indicate-further-processing/>
         <waiver-for-communication/>
         <declaration-of-entity-or-natural-person/>
         <early-processing/>
         <declaration-of-micro-entity/>
      </ep-declarations>

• <fee-calc-info>: This element must appear under section <ep-financial-data>, containing the following children holding information about the selected ISA (International searching authority) and IPEA (International Preliminary Examining Authority):

  • <search-region>: Empty element containing a region attribute, indicating if the ISA is the EPO ("EP") or any other authority ("Other").

  • <IPEA>: Empty element containing an ipea attribute, indicating if the IPEA is the EPO ("EP") or any other authority ("other").

  • E.g.: for any other regional authority than EPO as the ISA, and EPO as the IPEA:

<ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
<ep-designated-states waiver-communication-and-processing-of-non-designated-states="no">
…
<ep-financial-data curr="EUR" fee-amounts-unlocked-by-user="no">
    <mode-of-payment accno="" mode-type="auto" currency="EUR"/>
        <fees date="20240214">
           <standard-fee>
           ...
           </standard-fee>
           <fee-calc-info>
              <search-region region="Other"/>
              <IPEA ipea="EP"/>
                   </fee-calc-info>

Below is a basic example showing the elements listed above populated with the data filled out in the EP Entry tab:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE ep-euro-pct
 SYSTEM "ep-euro-pct-v1-17.dtd">
<ep-euro-pct lang="en"
            dtd-version="1.0"
            produced-by="applicant"
            ro="EP"
            date-produced=""
            regional-phase-office="designated"
            amendments-enclosed="no"
            comments-on="no">
  <file-reference-id>1200_designated</file-reference-id>
  <request-petition>Entry into the European phase (EPO as designated or elected Office) is hereby requested.</request-petition>
  <parties>
     …
  </parties>
  <priority-claims>
     <ep-priority-claim sequence="1" kind="international">
        <country>IB</country>
        <doc-number>PCT/GB2020/098123</doc-number>
        <date>20201101</date>
     </ep-priority-claim>
     <ep-priority-claim sequence="2" kind="regional">
        <country>EP</country>
        <doc-number>EP16155428.2</doc-number>
        <date/>
     </ep-priority-claim>
     <ep-priority-claim sequence="3" kind="international">
        <country>IB</country>
        <doc-number>WO9999999999</doc-number>
        <date/>
     </ep-priority-claim>
  </priority-claims>
  <search-authority>
     <isa>
        <country>EP</country>
     </isa>
  </search-authority>
  <check-list>
     <cl-request/>
     …
  </check-list>
  <ep-language-of-filing lang-code="en">en</ep-language-of-filing>
  <ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
     <ep-designated-states waiver-communication-and-processing-of-non-designated-states="no">
        …
    <ep-designated-states/>
     <ep-declarations>
        <waiver-to-indicate-further-processing/>
        …
     </ep-declarations>
     <translation-info>
        <tr-inter-appl>0</tr-inter-appl>
        <tr-prio-appl>0</tr-prio-appl>
        <tr-originally-filed>1</tr-originally-filed>
        <tr-amended-claims>0</tr-amended-claims>
        <tr-annexes>0</tr-annexes>
     </translation-info>
     <ep-financial-data curr="EUR" fee-amounts-unlocked-by-user="no">
        <mode-of-payment accno="" mode-type="auto" currency="EUR"/>
   <fees date="20240214">
      <standard-fee>
      …
      </standard-fee>
      <fee-calc-info>
         <search-region region="EP"/>
         <IPEA ipea="EP"/>
              </fee-calc-info>
              …
  </ep-office-specific-data>
</ep-euro-pct>

Depending on the EP Entry options selected for the request, additional XML elements and attributes may also need to be defined in other sections of ep-euro-pct.xml besides the items in the above list. Please see the examples provided in the subsequent sections for various examples covering different scenarios and applicable options.

Example: EPO as designated office

XML ep-euro-pct.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE ep-euro-pct
  SYSTEM "ep-euro-pct-v1-17.dtd">
<ep-euro-pct lang="en" dtd-version="1.0" ro="EP" produced-by="applicant" date-produced=""
             regional-phase-office="designated" amendments-enclosed="no" comments-on="no">

  <file-reference-id>1200-doc-entry1</file-reference-id>
  <request-petition>Entry into the European phase (EPO as designated or elected Office)is hereby requested.</request-petition>
  <parties>
  <priority-claims>
    <ep-priority-claim sequence="1" kind="international">
      <country>IB</country>
      <doc-number>PCT/US2011/123456</doc-number>
      <date>20110705</date>
    </ep-priority-claim>
    <ep-priority-claim sequence="2" kind="regional">
      <country>EP</country>
      <doc-number>EP11080400.2</doc-number>
      <date/>
    </ep-priority-claim>
    <ep-priority-claim sequence="3" kind="international">
      <country>IB</country>
      <doc-number>WO2011123456</doc-number>
      <date/>
    </ep-priority-claim>
  </priority-claims>
  <search-authority>
    <isa>
      <country>EP</country>
    </isa>
  </search-authority>
  <check-list total-page-count="1">
  <ep-language-of-filing lang-code="en">en</ep-language-of-filing>
  <ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
    <ep-designated-states waiver-communication-and-processing-of-non-designated-states="no">
      <ep-declarations>
        <waiver-for-communication/>
      </ep-declarations>
      <translation-info>

<ep-financial-data curr="EUR" fee-amounts-unlocked-by-user="no">
  <fees date="20240515">
    <standard-fee>
      <fee-calc-info>
        <search-region region="EP"/>
        <IPEA ipea="EP"/>
      </fee-calc-info>
      <fee-total-amount>4835.0</fee-total-amount>
    </fees>
</ep-financial-data>
<ep-electronic-files doc-type="1001">
  <applicant-file-name/>
  <epo-file-name>epf1200.pdf</epo-file-name>
</ep-electronic-files>
</ep-office-specific-data>
</ep-euro-pct>

Example: Request for examination in admissible non-EPO language

The example below demonstrates an application where the EPO is the elected office and acts as IPEA. Spanish has been selected as the language for the request for examination, which enables the option to make the declaration under Rule 7a(1) EPC.

The <declaration-of-entity-or-natural-person/> element is required where applicant(s) referred to in Article 14(4) EPC wish to apply fee reductions. This element requires that <ep-request-for-exam-art94/> is also present and the value of its lang attribute is the two-letter code of one of the admissible non-official EPO languages.

XML ep-euro-pct.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE ep-euro-pct
  SYSTEM "ep-euro-pct-v1-17.dtd">
<ep-euro-pct lang="en" dtd-version="1.0" ro="EP" produced-by="applicant" date-produced=""
             regional-phase-office="elected" amendments-enclosed="no" comments-on="no">

  <file-reference-id>1200-doc-entry1</file-reference-id>
  <request-petition>Entry into the European phase (EPO as designated or elected Office)is hereby requested.</request-petition>
  <parties>
  <priority-claims>
  <search-authority>
    <isa>
      <country>EP</country>
    </isa>
  </search-authority>
  <check-list total-page-count="1">
  <ep-language-of-filing lang-code="en">en</ep-language-of-filing>
  <ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
    <ep-request-for-exam-art94 lang="es"/>
    <ep-designated-states waiver-communication-and-processing-of-non-designated-states="no">
      <ep-declarations>
        <waiver-to-indicate-further-processing/>
        <declaration-of-entity-or-natural-person/>
      </ep-declarations>
      <translation-info>
      <ep-financial-data curr="EUR" fee-amounts-unlocked-by-user="no">
        <fees date="20240515">
          <standard-fee>
            <fee-calc-info>
              <search-region region="EP"/>
              <IPEA ipea="EP"/>
            </fee-calc-info>
            <fee-total-amount>4835.0</fee-total-amount>
          </fees>
      </ep-financial-data>
      <ep-electronic-files doc-type="1001">
        <applicant-file-name/>
        <epo-file-name>epf1200.pdf</epo-file-name>
      </ep-electronic-files>
  </ep-office-specific-data>
</ep-euro-pct>

EP1200 – Parties

The Parties tab of Form EP1200 accommodates all data for names, persons and addresses relating to the application. At least one applicant is required.

• Applicant(s)

• Representative(s)

• Authorisations and waivers

• Address for correspondence

The XML structure for the <parties> element in the ep-euro-pct.xml file holding the information about involved parties is basically the same as in the ep-request.xml file in form EP1001, except that only <applicants> and <agents> (representative) elements are accepted (i.e., section <inventors> is not applicable here).

The <parties> element can contain <applicants> and <agents> (representative) elements, each with multiple <applicant> and <ep-agent> sub-elements, following the same structure as described in: EP1001 – Parties, Inventors

• <applicants> contains one or more <applicant> elements for each involved applicant.

• <agents> contains one or more <ep-agent> elements for each involved representative.

If an address for correspondence has been entered for the first-named applicant, no representative can be added, and vice versa.

The required attributes for each individual <applicant> and <ep-agent> element are mostly specific to the type of party, as listed in the table below:

XML Element	XML Attribute	Attribute Description	Example/fixed value
<applicant>	sequence	Order no. of the applicant in the list of applicants. Always required. For submissions with no applicants named, this value should be "0". See note (*) below this table.	E.g.: "1" for 1st applicant
<applicant>	designation	Fixed value indicating that designated states are as indicated in the submission. Always required.	Fixed value: "as-indicated"
<applicant>	app-type	Indicates the type of applicant. Always required. Can be one of the following: "applicant": regular applicant. "applicant-inventor": applicant who is also the inventor. "employee": legal applicant who is represented by an employee.	E.g.: "applicant-inventor"
<ep-agent>	sequence	Order no. of the representative in the list of representatives. Always required.	E.g.: "1" for 1st representative
<ep-agent>	rep-type	Always required. Indicates sub-type of representative as follows: "common-representative": association. "agent": individual. "attorney": legal practicioner.	E.g.: "common-representative"
<ep-agent>	ep-association-number	If rep-type="common-representative" (association), this attribute is required and must provide its registration no.	E.g.: "125"
<ep-agent>	ep-authorisation	Required if representative chooses to file a general authorisation, and the value indicates its type as follows: "attached": individual authorisation is attached. "registered": general authorisation has been registered under number in attribute general_authorisation_number (see below). "filed-not-yet-registered": general authorisation has been filed but has not yet been registered. "includes-ep-phase": the authorisation filed with the EPO as PCT receiving office expressly includes the European phase.	E.g.: "attached"
<ep-agent>	general-authorisation- number	If ep-authorisation=" registered", this attribute is required and must provide the no. under the authorisation is registered.	E.g.: "102356"

(*) Note that, even if a submission is to be imported with no applicants listed under the Parties, section (either as a draft to be filled out later, or as a submission with only representatives named), the <applicants> section must still be present and contain an empty <applicant> entry with a sequence no. "0", as the example snippet below:

<applicants>
        <applicant sequence="0" app-type="applicant" designation="as-indicated">
           <addressbook lang="en">
              <name name-type="legal"/>
              <address>
                 <postcode/>
                 <country/>
              </address>
           </addressbook>
           <nationality>
              <country/>
           </nationality>
           <residence>
              <country/>
           </residence>
        </applicant>
     </applicants>

Please refer to the example scenarios provided in subsequent sub-chapters in this section (e.g.: One applicant, one representative with authorisation) for more details on how the above attributes are set in each possible case.

Each <applicant> and <ep-agent> element should contain:

• A single <addressbook> sub-element with the name and address details. This element should always be present (required).

• If a specific country of nationality is to be specified, a <nationality> sub-element should also be present. This will contain a single <country> child element with the 2-letter country code (e.g.: "IT" for Italy).

• Similarly, if a specific country of residence is to be specified, a <residence> sub-element should also be present, with the same internal structure as the above.

The example below shows the basic structure for the <parties> section in a request that only includes a single applicant specifying Italy (IT) as both their nationality and residence country:

<parties>
     <applicants>
        <applicant sequence="1"
                   designation="as-indicated"
                   app-type="applicant">
           <addressbook lang="en">
              …
           </addressbook>
           <nationality>
              <country>IT</country>
           </nationality>
           <residence>
              <country>IT</country>
           </residence>
        </applicant>
     </applicants>
  </parties>

The <addressbook> element with the name and address detail for each party will have the following single attribute:

• lang: 2-letter language code. This must match the procedural language for the attached/referred application. E.g.: <addressbook lang="en">

The structure of the <addressbook> element is specific to the type of party involved (applicant/representative/inventor) and its sub-type (e.g., legal or natural person, for applicants):

Party role	Sub-type	XML Elements in <addressbook>
<applicant>	Applicant, legal person	<name name-type="legal"> <registered-number/> <address> <address-2> <pobox> <street> <city> <state> <postcode> <country> </address> <phone> <email>
<applicant>	Applicant, natural person	<last-name> <first-name> <orgname> <department> <address> <pobox> <street> <city> <state> <postcode> <country> </address> <phone> <email>
<ep-agent>	Professional representative, association	<last-name> (*) <department> <registered-number> <address> <pobox> <street> <city> <state> <postcode> <country> </address> <phone> <email>
<ep-agent>	Professional representative, individual	<last-name> <first-name> <orgname> <department> <address> <pobox> <street> <city> <state> <postcode> <country> </address> <phone> <email>
<ep-agent>	Legal practicioner	Same as above.

(*) For representatives of sub-type association (i.e., with attribute rep-type="common-representative"), the value of the <last-name> element corresponds to the Organisation name of the association acting as representative.

Below is an example showing the general structure of a <parties> element in ep-euro-pct.xml containing a single <applicant> entry, with the top-level elements and attributes listed in the previous tables:

<parties>
     <applicants>
        <applicant sequence="1"
                   designation="as-indicated"
                   app-type="applicant-inventor">
           <addressbook lang="en">
              <last-name>Manzoni</last-name>
              <first-name>Salvatore</first-name>
              <orgname>Borghese S.A.</orgname>
              <department>Invenzioni</department>
              <registered-number/>
              <address>
                 <pobox/>
                 <street>Via Roma 8 / Piazza del Duomo</street>
                 <city>Milano</city>
                 <state/>
                 <postcode>20100</postcode>
                 <country>IT</country>
              </address>
              <phone>+39 2 5056 10</phone>
              <email>[email protected]</email>
           </addressbook>
           <nationality>
              <country>IT</country>
           </nationality>
           <residence>
              <country>IT</country>
           </residence>
        </applicant>
     </applicants>
  </parties>

See the examples included below in subsequent chapters for more details about other possible scenarios including different parties involved.

Example: Applicant is represented by employee and has separate address for correspondence

In this example, an employee is acting as a representative on behalf of the applicant. No other representative can be added. A separate address for correspondence is connected with the applicant. The <address> element within the <applicant> element for the employee is empty, since it is inferred that employee and applicant have the same address.

XML ep-euro-pct.xml

<parties>
  <applicants>
    <applicant sequence="1" designation="as-indicated" app-type="applicant">
      <addressbook lang="fr">
        <name name-type="legal">TechInvent SA</name>
        <registered-number/>
        <address>
          <address-2>Brevets</address-2>
          <pobox/>
          <street>34, place de la republique</street>
          <city>Lyon</city>
          <state/>
          <postcode>69008</postcode>
          <country>FR</country>
        </address>
        <phone>+33 4 2568 10</phone>
        <email>[email protected]</email>
      </addressbook>
      <nationality>
        <country/>
      </nationality>
      <residence>
        <country>FR</country>
      </residence>
      <applicant-IB-recorded>true</applicant-IB-recorded>
    </applicant>
    <applicant sequence="1" app-type="employee" designation="as-indicated">
      <addressbook lang="fr">
        <prefix/>
        <last-name>Vallonier</last-name>
        <first-name>Monique</first-name>
        <iid>13.45667</iid>
        <address>
          <postcode/>
          <country/>
        </address>
      </addressbook>
      <nationality>
        <country>EP</country>
      </nationality>
      <residence>
        <country>EP</country>
      </residence>
    </applicant>
  </applicants>

</applicants>
<correspondence-address>
  <addressbook lang="fr">
    <name name-type="legal"/>
    <registered-number/>
    <address>
      <address-1>TechInvent SA</address-1>
      <address-2>Affaires l?gales</address-2>
      <pobox>201</pobox>
      <street>54 rue Jean-Monnet</street>
      <city>Lyon</city>
      <state/>
      <postcode>69015</postcode>
      <country>FR</country>
    </address>
  </addressbook>
</correspondence-address>
</parties>

Example: One applicant, one representative with authorisation

XML ep-euro-pct.xml

<parties>
  <applicants>
    <applicant sequence="1" designation="as-indicated" app-type="applicant">
      <addressbook lang="en">
        <last-name>Manzoni</last-name>
        <first-name>Salvatore</first-name>
        <orgname>Borghese S.A.</orgname>
        <department>Invenzioni</department>
        <registered-number/>
        <address>
          <pobox/>
          <street>Via Roma 8 / Piazza del Duomo</street>
          <city>Milano</city>
          <state/>
          <postcode>20100</postcode>
          <country>IT</country>
        </address>
        <phone>+39 2 5056 10</phone>
        <email>[email protected]</email>
      </addressbook>
      <nationality>
        <country>IT</country>
      </nationality>
      <residence>
        <country>IT</country>
      </residence>
    </applicant>
  </applicants>
  <agents>
    <ep-agent sequence="1" rep-type="common-representative" ep-authorisation="registered"
              general_authorisation_number="780650" ep-association-number="145">
      <addressbook lang="en">
        <name name-type="legal">IP Partners</name>
        <registered-number>0.0</registered-number>
        <address>
          <address-2>European Patents</address-2>
          <pobox>5088</pobox>
          <street>Cambridge Science Park / 100 Red Lion Square</street>
          <city>Cambridge</city>
          <state>Cambridgeshire</state>
          <postcode>CB2 1AB</postcode>
          <country>GB</country>
        </address>
        <phone>+44 1223 35160</phone>
        <email>[email protected]</email>
      </addressbook>
    </ep-agent>
  </agents>
</parties>

EP1200 – States/BIOM/SEQL – States

The lists of states in the States section in tab States/BIOM/SEQL are defined by the states applicable on the international filing date specified in the EP Entry tab.

• All designation states are automatically selected (Article 79(1) EPC).

• All extension states or individual extension states can be selected. The extension fee is due for each individual state.

• All validation states or individual validation states can be selected where applicable. The validation fee is due for each individual state.

For the latest list of EPC contracting states, extension states and validation states see the EPO website at About us > Legal foundations and member states > Member states of the European Patent Organisation. The EPC contracting states include all overseas departments and territories.

Although all the contracting states to the EPC at the time of filing of the PCT application and designated therein are deemed to be designated in EP1200, it is not required to specify all individual <country> elements for the designated states in the ep-euro-pct.xml file to be imported. It is sufficient to produce the <ep-designated-states> element with the <extension-states> and <validation-states> elements. If no extension states and validation states are designated, the <extension-states/> and <validation-states/> elements must be present as empty elements.

See the corresponding sections under Form EP1001 for more details on the extension states and validation states: EP1001 – Application details – Designation of states

The example provided below shows the structure of a <ep-designated-states> XML section for a scenario where both extension and validation states are designated.

XML ep-euro-pct.xml

<ep-language-of-filing lang-code="">en</ep-language-of-filing>
<ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
  <ep-designated-states waiver-communication-and-processing-of-non-designated-states="no">
    <extension-states>
      <country>BA</country>
      <country>ME</country>
    </extension-states>
    <validation-states>
      <country>MA</country>
      <country>MD</country>
    </validation-states>
  </ep-designated-states>
  <translation-info>
  <ep-financial-data curr="EUR" fee-amounts-unlocked-by-user="no">
  <ep-electronic-files doc-type="1001">
    <applicant-file-name/>
    <epo-file-name>epf1200.pdf</epo-file-name>
  </ep-electronic-files>
</ep-office-specific-data>
</ep-euro-pct>

EP1200 – States/BIOM/SEQL – Biological Material

The EP1200 Biological Material section of the States/BIOM/SEQL tab is provided to enable applicants to enter all data concerning any biological materials relating to the application.

• Depositary institutions (name and address)

• Accession numbers

• References to patent description

• Receipts, authorisations and waivers as attached documents

ℹ️ Note

Sequence listings are attached in sub-tab Sequence listings. See: EP1200 – States/BIOM/SEQL – Sequence Listings

Each deposit of biological material is imported from a <ep-biological-material> element inside section <ep-office-specific-data> in ep-euro-pct.xml. Below is a snippet showing the basic structure of a sample element <ep-biological-material> and the top-level elements in it:

<ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
  <ep-designated-states waiver-communication-and-processing-of-non-designated-states="no">
    …
  </ep-designated-states>
  <ep-declarations/>
  <ep-biological-material id="bio1" num="CBS" dnum="Bio-123456">
     <depositary>CBS
	         <address>
	            <address-1>Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT Utrecht, Netherlands, or, P.O. Box 85167, 3508 AD Utrecht, Netherlands</address-1>
	            <postcode/>
	            <country/>
	         </address>
     </depositary>
     <bio-accno>CBS-908070</bio-accno>
     <bio-receipt will-be-filed-later="yes"/>
     <bio-waiver>BIOM-WAIV-1.pdf</bio-waiver>
     <ep-biological-material-reference>
	         <ep-bio-references-page>5</ep-bio-references-page>
	         <ep-bio-references-lines>245</ep-bio-references-lines>
     </ep-biological-material-reference/>
  </ep-biological-material>
  …

An <ep-biological-material> element must contain the following attributes:

• id: internal ID name of the biological material deposit. This should aways start with "bio", followed by its order no. of creation. E.g.: "bio1" for the first deposit.

• num: short name (abbreviated) of the depositary institution. E.g.: "CBS". Currently permitted values are:

ABC NNRL VKM ATCC BEA BCCM IMI CCTCC CGMCC CChRGM CM-CNRG CECT CNCM CCMM CCAP CCOS	CCY CCM ECACC GDMCC IAFB DBVPG IDAC IPOD IZSLER KACC KCLRF KCTC KCCM CBA DSMZ MCC	MSCL MTCC NBIMCC NCAIM NCTC NCYC NCIMB NIBSC NPMD NMI PCM NCMA VKPM VTTCC CBS OTHER

• dnum: identification reference (i.e., name under which the deposit is listed in OLF2.0 GUI). This can be freely entered by the user filing. E.g.: "Bio-123456".

The table below list the child elements in each <ep-biological-material> entry:

XML Element	Description, attributes and sub-elements
<depositary>	This element must contain: A text value indicating the short name of the depositary institution. E.g.: "CBS". This should match the value of attribute num in the <ep-biological-material> element. An <address> child element indicating the full address of the referred institution. The aforementioned <address> record should contain the following sub-elements: <address-1>: Full address of the institution. This may be followed by additional <address-2> and <address-3> elements if the address is to be split into multiple lines. <postcode>: Postal code (may be empty). <country>: 2-letter country code of the institution. This element must be present, even if its empty. Example: <depositary>CBS <address> <address-1>Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT Utrecht, Netherlands, or, P.O. Box 85167, 3508 AD Utrecht, Netherlands</address-1> <postcode/> <country/> </address> </depositary>
<bio-accno>	Accession number for the deposit. E.g.: <bio-accno>CBS-908070</bio-accno>
<bio-receipt>	Indicates if a copy of the deposit receipt issued by the depositary institution is to be either attached with the submission or to be filed later: Attached: indicated simply by a <bio-receipt/> empty element with no attributes. To be filed later: indicated by an empty element with a will-be-filed-later="yes" attribute.
<bio-waiver>	If a waiver pursuant to Rule 33(2) is attached to the submission, this element must also be present and indicate the name of the attached file corresponding to said document as its value. E.g.: <bio-waiver>BIOM-WAIV-1.pdf</bio-waiver>
<ep-biological-material-reference>	If the depositary institution and accession no. / depositor's identification reference are indicated in the application documents, this element must be present with no value and the following required sub-elements: <ep-bio-references-page>: Numeric value indicating the page(s) containing the reference. <ep-bio-references-lines>: Numeric value indicating the line(s) in the specified page(s) containing the reference. E.g.: <ep-biological-material-reference> <ep-bio-references-page>5</ep-bio-references-page> <ep-bio-references-lines>245</ep-bio-references-lines> </ep-biological-material-reference> If there is no such reference, this section can be missing.

The example below deposit details and attached documents relating to biological materials. Multiple biological materials can be listed.

See also the examples provided in EP1001 – Application details – Biological Material for more details about the structure of element <ep-biological-material> and its expected children elements / attributes for several scenarios.

XML ep-euro-pct.xml

<ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
  <ep-designated-states waiver-communication-and-processing-of-non-designated-states="no">
  <ep-declarations>
    <ep-biological-material id="bio1" num="CNCM" dnum="12-Inst5678">
      <depositary>CNCM<address>
        <address-1>Institut Pasteur , 25-28 rue du Dr. Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France</address-1>
        <postcode/>
        <country/>
      </address>
      </depositary>
      <bio-accno>CNCM-908010</bio-accno>
      <bio-receipt>BIOM-RECEIPT-1.pdf</bio-receipt>
      <bio-waiver>BIOM-WAIV-1.pdf</bio-waiver>
      <ep-biological-material-reference>
        <ep-bio-references-page>14</ep-bio-references-page>
        <ep-bio-references-lines>1200-1250</ep-bio-references-lines>
      </ep-biological-material-reference>
    </ep-biological-material>
    <translation-info>
  <ep-financial-data curr="EUR" fee-amounts-unlocked-by-user="no">
  <ep-electronic-files doc-type="1001">
    <applicant-file-name/>
    <epo-file-name>epf1200.pdf</epo-file-name>
  </ep-electronic-files>
  <ep-electronic-files doc-type="BIOMRECEIPT">
    <applicant-file-name>bio_receipt.pdf</applicant-file-name>
    <epo-file-name>BIOM-RECEIPT-1.pdf</epo-file-name>
  </ep-electronic-files>
  <ep-electronic-files doc-type="BIOMWAIV">
    <applicant-file-name>bio_waiver.pdf</applicant-file-name>
    <epo-file-name>BIOM-WAIV-1.pdf</epo-file-name>
  </ep-electronic-files>
</ep-office-specific-data>
</ep-euro-pct>

EP1200 – States/BIOM/SEQL – Sequence Listings

The EP1200 Sequence Listings section of the States/BIOM/SEQL tab is provided to enable applicants to indicate if the PCT application discloses nucleotide and/or amino acid sequences complying with the WIPO Standard applicable at the international date of filing. all data concerning any biological materials relating to the application.

• Attached to the EP1200 submission. Note that only one sequence listing may be attached.

• Already available to EPO in computer readable format (filed under Rule 5.2(a) PCT, furnished to the EPO as ISA under Rule 13ter.1(a) PCT, or otherwise).

When indicating that the PCT application discloses a sequence listing, a <declaration-application-contains-sequence-listing> XML element must be present under section <ep-declarations> in the <ep-office-specific-data> top element in ep-euro-pct.xml, indicating the following required attributes:

• furnishment-of-sequence-listing: value must be "attached" (if sequence listing file is attached) or "already" (if already made available to EPO).

• not-including-matter-beyond-original-application: if applicant wants to indicate that the sequence listing does not include matter that goes beyond the content of the application, value should be "yes". Otherwise, this attribute should be either set to "no" value (default) or entirely omitted.

E.g., for an attached sequence listing with the "does not include matter that goes beyond the content of the application as filed" option enabled:

<ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="de">
     <ep-designated-states waiver-communication-and-processing-of-non-designated-states="no">
        …
     </ep-designated-states>
     <ep-declarations>
        <waiver-for-communication/>
        <declaration-application-contains-sequence-listing furnishment-of-sequence-listing="attached" not-including-matter-beyond-original-application="yes"/>
     </ep-declarations>
     …

Additionally, and only if the sequence listing is furnished as an attachment, the following XML elements and attributes should also be present in the ep-euro-pct.xml file to be imported (populated with data as described):

• A <cl-sequence-listing> entry under the <check-list> top element, specifying the following attributes:

  • quantity: fixed value of "1" (i.e., only one sequence listing per submission).

  • page-count: fixed value of "0" (not applicable).

  • seq-type: indicates the type of sequence listing file attached with one of the following possible values:

    • "app": ST.25 format as APP file.

    • "txt": ST.25 format as text file.

    • "zip": ST.26 format as ZIP package.

    • "xml": ST.26 format as XML file.

    • E.g., for a ST.26 sequence listing file provided as ZIP:

<check-list total-page-count="1">
     <cl-request/>
     …
     <cl-sequence-listing quantity="1" page-count="0" seq-type="zip">SEQLZIP26.zip</cl-sequence-listing>
</check-list>

• An <ep-electronic-files> entry under the <ep-office-specific-data> top element, containing the following information:

  • doc-type: Attribute indicating the document type for the furnished sequence listing (e.g., "SEQLZIP26").

  • <applicant-file-name>: Child element containing the original name of the file (if different from the EPO file name).

  • <epo-file-name>: Child element containing the standard EPO file name for the corresponding doc-type. See: Document codes and file types for EP1200

  • E.g., for a sequence listing provided in ST.26 format as ZIP file:

<ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="de">
     …
     <ep-electronic-files doc-type="SEQLZIP26">
        <applicant-file-name>ST_26_zip_package.zip</applicant-file-name>
        <epo-file-name>SEQLZIP26.zip</epo-file-name>
     </ep-electronic-files>
     …

The snippet below provides a basic example of the overall structure of an ep-euro-pct.xml file containing a declaration for an attached sequence listing in ST.26 ZIP format:

<ep-euro-pct lang="de"
            dtd-version="1.0"
            ro="EP"
            produced-by="applicant"
            date-produced=""
            regional-phase-office="elected"
            amendments-enclosed="yes"
            comments-on="no">
  …
  <check-list total-page-count="1">
     <cl-request/>
     <cl-claims number-of-claims=""/>
     <cl-sequence-listing quantity="1" page-count="0" seq-type="zip">SEQLZIP26.zip</cl-sequence-listing>
  </check-list>
  <ep-language-of-filing lang-code="de">de</ep-language-of-filing>
  <ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="de">
     <ep-designated-states waiver-communication-and-processing-of-non-designated-states="no">
        …
     </ep-designated-states>
     <ep-declarations>
        <waiver-for-communication/>
        <declaration-application-contains-sequence-listing furnishment-of-sequence-listing="attached" not-including-matter-beyond-original-application="yes"/>
     </ep-declarations>
     …
     <ep-electronic-files doc-type="1001">
        <applicant-file-name/>
        <epo-file-name>epf1200.pdf</epo-file-name>
     </ep-electronic-files>
     <ep-electronic-files doc-type="SEQLZIP26">
        <applicant-file-name>ST_26_zip_package.zip</applicant-file-name>
        <epo-file-name>SEQLZIP26.zip</epo-file-name>
     </ep-electronic-files>
	  …
  </ep-office-specific-data>
</ep-euro-pct>

See the subsequent sub-chapters in this section for additional details depending on the way the sequence listing is furnished (attached or already available).

Sequence listings attached in computer-readable format

If you attach a sequence listing to a EP1200 application, this file must always be submitted in computer-readable format in accordance with WIPO Standard ST.25 or ST.26. On 1 July 2022, WIPO Standard ST.26 entered into force. For applications with a filing date on or after 1 July 2022, sequence listings should be filed in ST.26.

Only one sequence listing file can be attached, i.e. either a ST.25 file (APP/SEQ/TXT/ZIP) or a ST.26 file (XML/ZIP).

Computer-readable sequence listings can be attached as the following file types:

• Sequence listing in ST.25 (APP or TXT):

  • document code = SEQLTXT
  • EPO file name for APP files = SEQLTXT.app
  • EPO file name for TXT files = SEQLTXT.txt

• Sequence listing in ST.25 (ZIP):

  • document code = SEQLZIP
  • EPO file name = SEQLTXT.zip

• Sequence listing in ST.26 (XML):

  • document code = SEQLXML26
  • EPO file name = SEQLXML26.xml

• Sequence listing in ST.26 (ZIP):

  • document code = SEQLZIP26
  • EPO file name = SEQLZIP26.zip

The example shows a sequence listing attached in ST.26 ZIP format (doc. code SEQLZIP26).

• If you attach APP or TXT files, please refer to the list above for the corresponding document codes and EPO file names.

• For an example of a sequence listing in ST.26 XML format, see: EP1001 – Application details – Sequence listings

XML ep-euro-pct.xml

</search-authority>
<check-list total-page-count="4">
  <cl-request/>
  <cl-description page-count="1"
                  phase="international-application-as-filed"
                  application-pages=""/>
  <cl-claims page-count="2"
             phase="international-application-as-filed"
             application-pages=""/>
  <cl-claims number-of-claims="20"/>
  <cl-sequence-listing quantity="1" page-count="0" seq-type="zip">SEQLZIP26.zip</cl-sequence-listing>
</check-list>
<ep-language-of-filing lang-code="">en</ep-language-of-filing>
<ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
  <ep-designated-states waiver-communication-and-processing-of-non-designated-states="no">
    <ep-declarations>
      <declaration-application-contains-sequence-listing furnishment-of-sequence-listing="attached"
                                                         not-including-matter-beyond-original-application="yes"/>
    </ep-declarations>
    <translation-info>
  <ep-financial-data curr="EUR" fee-amounts-unlocked-by-user="no">
  <ep-electronic-files doc-type="1001">
    <applicant-file-name/>
    <epo-file-name>epf1200.pdf</epo-file-name>
  </ep-electronic-files>
  <ep-electronic-files doc-type="SEQLZIP26">
    <applicant-file-name>ST_26_zip_package.zip</applicant-file-name>
    <epo-file-name>SEQLZIP26.zip</epo-file-name>
  </ep-electronic-files>
</ep-office-specific-data>
</ep-euro-pct>

Sequence listings available to the EPO

If a sequence listing as part of the international application was already filed under Rule 5.2(a) PCT, or furnished to the EPO as ISA under Rule 13ter.1(a) PCT, or is otherwise available to the EPO, in computer-readable format in accordance with the WIPO standard applicable at the time of filing (ST.25 or ST.26), you are not required to attach a sequence listing file.

XML ep-euro-pct.xml

</search-authority>
<check-list total-page-count="4">
<ep-language-of-filing lang-code="">en</ep-language-of-filing>
<ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
  <ep-designated-states waiver-communication-and-processing-of-non-designated-states="no">
    <ep-declarations>
      <declaration-application-contains-sequence-listing furnishment-of-sequence-listing="already"/>
    </ep-declarations>
    <translation-info>
  <ep-financial-data curr="EUR" fee-amounts-unlocked-by-user="no">
  <ep-electronic-files doc-type="1001">
    <applicant-file-name/>
    <epo-file-name>epf1200.pdf</epo-file-name>
  </ep-electronic-files>
  <ep-electronic-files doc-type="BIOMRECEIPT">
  <ep-electronic-files doc-type="BIOMWAIV">
</ep-office-specific-data>
</ep-euro-pct>

EP1200 – Documents

The Documents tab in form EP1200 allows applicants to attach documents containing translations or amendments to parts of the previously filed application and other documents. The available choices depend on the EPO role selected in the EP Entry tab and the settings for amendments in the Documents for proceedings sub-tab.

• The files containing amendments or translations of technical documents are referenced in the application-body.xml file.

• All other documents are referenced in the ep-euro-pct.xml file.

For each document attached with the submission, a <ep-electronic-files> element inside section <ep-office-specific-data> must be present in ep-euro-pct.xml, as well as the corresponding entry in the <check-list> element in the same section for enclosed technical documents.

The structure of both elements are basically the same as previously described for form EP1001 in: EP1001 – Documents

Apart from the aforementioned elements covered in the EP1001 chapter, an additional XML element <translation-info> is also present under section <ep-office-specific-data> for EP1200 form submissions. This element must provide data related to any enclosed amendments/translation documents via the sub-elements detailed in the table below, which can only take values 1 (yes) or 0 (no):

XML Element	Description, attributes and sub-elements
<tr-inter-appl>	Indicates whether a translation of the international application is attached (1) or not (0).
<tr-prio-appl>	Indicates whether translations of priority applications are attached (1) or not (0).
<tr-originally-filed>	Indicates whether the PCT application as originally filed is a complete translation of the previous application under Rule 53(3) EPC (1) or not (0).
<tr-amended-claims>	Indicates whether amended claims are attached (1) or not (0).
<tr-annexes>	Indicates whether a translation of annexes to the international preliminary examination report (IPER) is attached (1) or not (0).

The snippet below shows the structure of a complete <translation-info> element for a basic case where none of the options described above are applicable (other cases and examples will be described in subsequent sub-chapters):

<ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
     <ep-designated-states waiver-communication-and-processing-of-non-designated-states="no">
        ...
     </ep-designated-states>
     <ep-declarations>
        ...
     </ep-declarations>
     <translation-info>
        <tr-inter-appl>0</tr-inter-appl>
        <tr-prio-appl>0</tr-prio-appl>
        <tr-originally-filed>0</tr-originally-filed>
        <tr-amended-claims>0</tr-amended-claims>
        <tr-annexes>0</tr-annexes>
     </translation-info>

The types of documents that can be attached to a EP1200 submission are:

• Amendments and translations:

  • Amendments
  • Translation of international application (if publication language is a non-EPO language)
  • Translation of priority applications
  • Translation of annexes to the international preliminary examination report (if publication language is a non-EPO language)
  • Pre-conversion archive (ZIP)

• Sequence listing:

  • Sequence listing in PDF format
  • Sequence listing in computer-readable format compliant with WIPO ST.25 (APP, TXT or ZIP file)
  • Sequence listing in computer-readable format compliant with WIPO ST.26 (XML or ZIP file)

Details related to sequence listings are covered in chapter EP1200 ??? States/BIOM/SEQL ??? Sequence Listings

• Additional documents:
  • Only PDF files are allowed.
  • General authorisation
  • Specific authorisation
  • Electronic priority document (digitally signed)
  • Reply to written opinion/IPER
  • Search results required under Rule 141(1) EPC
  • Amendments with annotations (claims, description, drawings)
  • Other documents
  • Request for retrieval of priority document from WIPO Digital Access Service (DAS)

For naming conventions, see the list of document names required by the EPO in: Document codes and file types for EP1200. All attached documents must be Annex F compliant. For more information about preparing documents for attachment and patent specifications in XML format please refer to the OLF2.0 User Guide.

Documents for proceedings

In the Documents for proceedings panel of the Documents tab in EP1200, general settings and declarations are made.

• If you wish to attach/enclose documents containing amendments (option "amended replacement pages attached" in the OLF2.0 GUI), this must be indicated by setting attribute amendments-enclosed in top-level element <ep-euro-pct> to "yes":

<ep-euro-pct lang="en"
            dtd-version="1.0"
            ro="EP"
            produced-by="applicant"
            date-produced=""
            regional-phase-office="designated"
            amendments-enclosed="yes"
            comments-on="no">

• If you wish to attach/enclose comments on the International preliminary examination report (option "Comments on the International preliminary examination report established by the EPO as the International Preliminary Examining Authority and/or observations are enclosed" in the OLF2.0 GUI), this must be indicated by setting attribute comments-on in top-level element <ep-euro-pct> to "yes":

<ep-euro-pct lang="en"
            dtd-version="1.0"
            ro="EP"
            produced-by="applicant"
            date-produced=""
            regional-phase-office="designated"
            amendments-enclosed="yes"
            comments-on="yes">

• If you wish to indicate that the PCT application as originally filed is a complete translation of the previous application (Rule 53(3) EPC), the XML element <tr-originally-filed> under section <translation-info> in top element <ep-office-specific-data> must have a value of 1 (otherwise, said element should be set to "0"):

<ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
     <ep-designated-states waiver-communication-and-processing-of-non-designated-states="no">
        …
     </ep-designated-states>
     <ep-declarations>
        …
     </ep-declarations>
     <translation-info>
        <tr-inter-appl>0</tr-inter-appl>
        <tr-prio-appl>0</tr-prio-appl>
        <tr-originally-filed>1</tr-originally-filed>
        <tr-amended-claims>0</tr-amended-claims>
        <tr-annexes>0</tr-annexes>
     </translation-info>
	  …

The option "Proceedings before the EPO can be based on test reports if the EPO as IPEA has been provided with such reports" is automatically selected (and cannot be deselected) if the options "EPO as elected office" and "IPEA is EPO" are selected in the EP Entry tab. Similarly, it is not available if IPEA other than EPO or EPO as designated office are selected.

The example below shows how the data for the Documents for proceedings options described above are stored in ep-euro-pct.xml:

XML ep-euro-pct.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE ep-euro-pct
  SYSTEM "ep-euro-pct-v1-17.dtd">
<ep-euro-pct lang="en" dtd-version="1.0" ro="EP" produced-by="applicant"
             date-produced="" regional-phase-office="elected" amendments-enclosed="yes"
             comments-on="no">
  <file-reference-id>1200_elected</file-reference-id>
  <request-petition>Entry into the European phase (EPO as designated or elected Office) is hereby
requested.</request-petition>
  <parties>
  <priority-claims>
  <search-authority>
  <check-list total-page-count="19">
  <ep-language-of-filing lang-code="ko">en</ep-language-of-filing>
  <ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
    <ep-designated-states waiver-communication-and-processing-of-non-designated-states="no">
      <ep-declarations>
    <translation-info>
      <tr-inter-appl>0</tr-inter-appl>
      <tr-prio-appl>0</tr-prio-appl>
      <tr-originally-filed>1</tr-originally-filed>
      <tr-amended-claims>0</tr-amended-claims>
      <tr-annexes>0</tr-annexes>
    </translation-info>
    <ep-financial-data curr="EUR" fee-amounts-unlocked-by-user="no">
      <mode-of-payment accno="" mode-type="ccard" currency="EUR"/>
      <fees date="20231114">
        <standard-fee>
          <fee-calc-info>
            <search-region region="EP"/>
            <IPEA ipea="EP"/>
          </fee-calc-info>
          <fee-total-amount>4233.0</fee-total-amount>
        </fees>
    </ep-financial-data>
    <ep-electronic-files doc-type="1001">
      <applicant-file-name/>
      <epo-file-name>epf1200.pdf</epo-file-name>
    </ep-electronic-files>
    <ep-notes-to-EPO page="Annotate" id="note1">
  </ep-office-specific-data>
</ep-euro-pct>

Amendments

When amended specification documents are attached to the EP1200 submission, and in addition to the corresponding <ep-electronic-files> element(s), section <check-list> in ep-euro-pct.xml must contain a child node for each of the provided technical documents (request, description, claims…) and for each additional document that are present in the submission. The table below list the possible child elements in that can figure in the <check-list> section depending on the provided documents and their expected contents:

XML Element	Document type	Value and/or Attributes
<cl-request>	EP1200 request	This element should always be empty.
<cl-description>	Description	Attributes: page-count: Total no. of pages for description. E.g.: "30" ppf: Page no. in the attached file corresponding to 1st page of the description. E.g.: "1" ppl: Page no. in the attached file corresponding to last page of the description. E.g.: "30" phase: Fixed value "entry-into-regional-phase" application-pages: Page range for Description in the provided document, this attribute is not mandatory. E.g.: "free text"
<cl-claims>	Claims	Attributes: page-count: Total no. of pages for claims. ppf: Page no. in the attached file corresponding to 1st page of the claims. ppl: Page no. in the attached file corresponding to last page of the claims. number-of-claims: No. of claims listed. number-claims-fee-calculation: No. of claims for which the applicant intends to pay (used for the fee calculation). Please set the value to "0" (zero) if you do not intend to pay for any claims with this application. phase: Fixed value "entry-into-regional-phase" application-pages: Page range for Claims in the provided document, this attribute is not mandatory. E.g.: "free text"
<cl-abstract>	Abstract	Attributes: page-count: Total no. of pages for abstract. ppf: Page no. in the attached file corresponding to 1st page of the abstract. ppl: Page no. in the attached file corresponding to last page of the abstract. phase: Fixed value "entry-into-regional-phase"
<cl-drawings> (*)	Drawings	Attributes: page-count: Total no. of pages for drawings. ppf: Page no. in the attached file corresponding to 1st page of the drawings. ppl: Page no. in the attached file corresponding to last page of the drawings. fig-count: No. of figures included in the drawings. E.g.: "2" phase: Fixed value "entry-into-regional-phase" application-pages: Page range for Drawings in the provided document, this attribute is not mandatory. E.g.: "free text"
<cl-sequence-listing>	Sequence listing.	See section EP1200 – States/BIOM/SEQL – Sequence Listings in this guide for details.

(*) If a drawings document is attached, an <figure-to-publish> element may follow the <check-list> section, containing a single <fig-number> sub-element indicating the no. of the figure of the drawings which should accompany the abstract when published.

Below is a snippet showing an example <check-list> section containing the required attributes for all amended documents that can be included in the EP1200 request:

…
  </parties>
  <check-list page-count="8">
     <cl-request/>
     <cl-description page-count="2"
                     ppf="1"
                     ppl="2"
                     phase="entry-into-regional-phase">AMSPECEPO-1.pdf</cl-description>
     <cl-claims page-count="1"
                number-of-claims="20"
                number-claims-fee-calculation="2"
                ppf="3"
                ppl="3"
                phase="entry-into-regional-phase">AMSPECEPO-1.pdf</cl-claims>
     <cl-abstract page-count="2" ppf="4" ppl="5">AMSPECEPO-1.pdf</cl-abstract>
     <cl-drawings page-count="3"
                  ppf="6"
                  ppl="8"
                  phase="entry-into-regional-phase">AMSPECEPO-1.pdf</cl-drawings>
 </check-list>
  <ep-language-of-filing lang-code="en">en</ep-language-of-filing>
  <ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
     …

In addition to the <ep-electronic-files> element(s) and <check-list> entries corresponding to the amended document(s) provided, the XML element <translation-info> must also be present under section <ep-office-specific-data> for EP1200 form submissions and contain the following sub-elements:

XML Element	Description, attributes and sub-elements
<tr-amended-claims>	Indicates whether amended claims are attached (1) or not (0).

The snippet below shows the structure of the <ep-office-specific-data> element in ep-euro-pct.xml for a case where a single document containing amended description/claims/drawings has been attached:

<ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
     <ep-designated-states waiver-communication-and-processing-of-non-designated-states="no">
        ...
     </ep-designated-states>
     <ep-declarations>
        ...
     </ep-declarations>
     <translation-info>
        <tr-inter-appl>0</tr-inter-appl>
        <tr-prio-appl>0</tr-prio-appl>
        <tr-originally-filed>0</tr-originally-filed>
        <tr-amended-claims>1</tr-amended-claims>
        <tr-annexes>0</tr-annexes>
     </translation-info>
     <ep-financial-data curr="EUR" fee-amounts-unlocked-by-user="no">
        …
     </ep-financial-data>
     <ep-electronic-files doc-type="1001">
        <applicant-file-name/>
        <epo-file-name>epf1200.pdf</epo-file-name>
     </ep-electronic-files>
     <ep-electronic-files doc-type="AMSPECEPO">
        <applicant-file-name>Amended_specs.pdf</applicant-file-name>
        <epo-file-name>AMSPECEPO-1.pdf</epo-file-name>
     </ep-electronic-files>
     …
  </ep-office-specific-data>

Please note that, as a bare minimum for an EP1200 submission to be importable, an <ep-electronic-files> entry for the corresponding EP request document (document code 1001) must always be present with the contents shown in the example above.

Note that amendments can be attached as one combined file or multiple PDF documents.

In this example, a combined file contains the amended description, abstract and drawings, and two separate files are attached for the amended claims and another amended drawings. In addition, a document with translations of priority application is provided.

XML ep-euro-pct.xml

<priority-claims>
<search-authority>
<check-list total-page-count="1">
  <cl-request/>
  <cl-claims number-of-claims=""/>
  <cl-abstract page-count="1" ppf="8" ppl="8">AMSPECEPO-2.pdf</cl-abstract>
</check-list>
<ep-language-of-filing lang-code="en">en</ep-language-of-filing>
<ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
  <ep-designated-states waiver-communication-and-processing-of-non-designated-states="no">
  <ep-biological-material id="bio1" num="CNCM" dnum="09-Inst3412">
  <translation-info>
    <tr-inter-appl>0</tr-inter-appl>
    <tr-prio-appl>1</tr-prio-appl>
    <tr-originally-filed>0</tr-originally-filed>
    <tr-amended-claims>0</tr-amended-claims>
    <tr-annexes>0</tr-annexes>
  </translation-info>
  <ep-financial-data curr="EUR" fee-amounts-unlocked-by-user="no">
    <fees date="20100401">
  </ep-financial-data>
  <ep-electronic-files doc-type="1001">
  <ep-electronic-files doc-type="AMSPECEPO">
    <applicant-file-name>Claims Modification.pdf</applicant-file-name>
    <epo-file-name>AMSPECEPO-1.pdf</epo-file-name>
  </ep-electronic-files>
  <ep-electronic-files doc-type="AMSPECEPO">
    <applicant-file-name>Instant water specification.pdf</applicant-file-name>
    <epo-file-name>AMSPECEPO-2.pdf</epo-file-name>
  </ep-electronic-files>
  <ep-electronic-files doc-type="AMSPECEPO">
    <applicant-file-name>Instant drawing.pdf</applicant-file-name>
    <epo-file-name>AMSPECEPO-3.pdf</epo-file-name>
  </ep-electronic-files>
  <ep-electronic-files doc-type="PRIOTRANAPP">
    <applicant-file-name>Translation priority.pdf</applicant-file-name>
    <epo-file-name>PRIOTRANAPP.1.pdf</epo-file-name>
  </ep-electronic-files>
  <ep-electronic-files doc-type="BIOMRECEIPT">
  <ep-electronic-files doc-type="BIOMWAIV">
</ep-office-specific-data>
</ep-euro-pct>

XML application-body.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE application-body SYSTEM "application-body-v1-6.dtd">
<application-body lang="en" dtd-version="1.6" country="EP">
  <description>
    <doc-page id="AMDESC2" he="1" wi="1" type="pdf" file="AMSPECEPO-2.pdf" ppf="1" ppl="7" pp="7"/>
  </description>
  <claims>
    <doc-page id="AMCLMS1" he="1" wi="1" type="pdf" file="AMSPECEPO-1.pdf" ppf="1" ppl="4" pp="4"/>
  </claims>
  <abstract>
    <doc-page id="AMABST2" he="1" wi="1" type="pdf" file="AMSPECEPO-2.pdf" ppf="8" ppl="8" pp="1"/>
  </abstract>
  <drawings>
    <doc-page id="AMDRAW2" he="1" wi="1" type="pdf" file="AMSPECEPO-2.pdf" ppf="9" ppl="10" pp="2"/>
    <doc-page id="AMDRAW3" he="1" wi="1" type="pdf" file="AMSPECEPO-3.pdf" ppf="1" ppl="1" pp="1"/>
  </drawings>
</application-body>

Translations

When translation documents are attached to the EP1200 submission, and in addition to the <ep-electronic-files> element(s) corresponding to the specific type of document(s) provided, the XML element <translation-info> must also be present under section <ep-office-specific-data> for EP1200 form submissions. This element must provide data related to any enclosed translation documents via the sub-elements detailed in the table below, which can only take values 1 (yes) or 0 (no):

XML Element	Description, attributes and sub-elements
<tr-inter-appl>	Indicates whether a translation of the international application is attached (1) or not (0). Note that this is only applicable if the publication language is a non-EPO language.
<tr-prio-appl>	Indicates whether translations of priority applications are attached (1) or not (0).
<tr-annexes>	Indicates whether a translation of annexes to the international preliminary examination report (IPER) is attached (1) or not (0). If the publication language is a non-EPO language

The snippet below shows the structure of the <ep-office-specific-data> element for a case where all types of translation documents described above have been attached:

<ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
     <ep-designated-states waiver-communication-and-processing-of-non-designated-states="no">
        ...
     </ep-designated-states>
     <ep-declarations>
        ...
     </ep-declarations>
     <translation-info>
        <tr-inter-appl>1</tr-inter-appl>
        <tr-prio-appl>1</tr-prio-appl>
        <tr-originally-filed>0</tr-originally-filed>
        <tr-amended-claims>0</tr-amended-claims>
        <tr-annexes>1</tr-annexes>
     </translation-info>
     <ep-financial-data curr="EUR" fee-amounts-unlocked-by-user="no">
        …
     </ep-financial-data>
     <ep-electronic-files doc-type="1001">
        <applicant-file-name/>
        <epo-file-name>epf1200.pdf</epo-file-name>
     </ep-electronic-files>
     <ep-electronic-files doc-type="SPECTRANEPO">
        <applicant-file-name>translation_PCT.pdf</applicant-file-name>
        <epo-file-name>SPECTRANEPO-1.pdf</epo-file-name>
     </ep-electronic-files>
     <ep-electronic-files doc-type="PRIOTRANAPP">
        <applicant-file-name>translation_prio.pdf</applicant-file-name>
        <epo-file-name>PRIOTRANAPP-1.pdf</epo-file-name>
     </ep-electronic-files>
     <ep-electronic-files doc-type="IPERTRAN">
        <applicant-file-name>translation_annex_IPER.pdf</applicant-file-name>
        <epo-file-name>IPERTRAN.pdf</epo-file-name>
     </ep-electronic-files>
     …
  </ep-office-specific-data>

Note that the translation of the international application can be attached as one combined file for all technical documents (description, claims…) or as multiple PDF documents.

In this example, all translation documents have been added as a combined file. Additionally, the translation of annexes to the international preliminary search report has been attached.

XML ep-euro-pct.xml

<search-authority>
<check-list total-page-count="1">
  <cl-request/>
  <cl-claims number-of-claims="10"/>
  <cl-abstract page-count="1" ppf="9" ppl="9">SPECTRANEPO-1.pdf</cl-abstract>
</check-list>
<ep-language-of-filing lang-code="es">en</ep-language-of-filing>
<ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
  <ep-request-for-exam-art94 lang="es"/>
  <ep-designated-states waiver-communication-and-processing-of-non-designated-states="no">
  <ep-declarations>
  <translation-info>
    <tr-inter-appl>1</tr-inter-appl>
    <tr-prio-appl>0</tr-prio-appl>
    <tr-originally-filed>1</tr-originally-filed>
    <tr-amended-claims>0</tr-amended-claims>
    <tr-annexes>1</tr-annexes>
  </translation-info>
  <ep-financial-data curr="EUR" fee-amounts-unlocked-by-user="no">
  <ep-electronic-files doc-type="1001">
  <ep-electronic-files doc-type="SPECTRANEPO">
    <applicant-file-name>Instant water.pdf</applicant-file-name>
    <epo-file-name>SPECTRANEPO-1.pdf</epo-file-name>
  </ep-electronic-files>
  <ep-electronic-files doc-type="IPERTRAN">
    <applicant-file-name>Translation Annex.pdf</applicant-file-name>
    <epo-file-name>IPERTRAN.pdf</epo-file-name>
  </ep-electronic-files>
</ep-office-specific-data>
</ep-euro-pct>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE application-body SYSTEM "application-body-v1-6.dtd">
<application-body lang="en" dtd-version="1.6" country="EP">
  <description>
    <doc-page id="DESCTRAN1" he="1" wi="1" type="pdf" file="SPECTRANEPO-1.pdf" ppf="1" ppl="6" pp="6"/>
  </description>
  <claims>
    <doc-page id="CLMSTRAN1" he="1" wi="1" type="pdf" file="SPECTRANEPO-1.pdf" ppf="7" ppl="8" pp="2"/>
  </claims>
  <abstract>
    <doc-page id="ABSTTRAN1" he="1" wi="1" type="pdf" file="SPECTRANEPO-1.pdf" ppf="9" ppl="9" pp="1"/>
  </abstract>
  <drawings>
    <doc-page id="DRAWTRAN1" he="1" wi="1" type="pdf" file="SPECTRANEPO-1.pdf" ppf="10" ppl="10" pp="1"/>
  </drawings>
</application-body>

Document details and number of pages

The data to be entered in the Document details and number of pages section of the tab indicates the associated number of pages of the set of documents entering any European phase. The number of pages is required by the EPO in order to calculate the additional filing fee (520) for the 36th and each subsequent page.

• The documents attached to the application must be indicated: document type, number of pages, page range.

• Those sections of the international application to be used by the EPO must also be indicated.

• The total of pages is automatically calculated by the OLF2.0 system.

In the overview sections, users must enter the page numbers and page ranges of all relevant documents (attached, previously filed or published) in three sub-sections: Description, Claims and Drawings. For the abstract, one page is added per default. The total number of pages is then calculated automatically in the overview tab and used to calculate the amount for the fee 520 to be paid.

The options for entering page numbers in the Document details and number of pages sub-tab depend on:

• whether the EPO is designated or elected office (EP Phase tab)

• the language of the international application (EP Phase tab)

• the options selected in the Documents for proceedings sub-tab

• the attachments made in the Amendments and Translations sub-tab

Certain options are mutually exclusive. These are explained in more detail in the example cases below.

The data corresponding to the selected options and entered page count/intervals in the Document details and number of pages sub-tab is stored as empty additional <cl-description>, <cl-claims> and <cl-drawings> child elements in section <check-list> in ep-euro-pct.xml. These elements will feature the following attributes:

• phase: Phase of the application in which the description/claims/drawings information was submitted. This will correspond to the selected option in the Document details and number of pages sub-tab (see table below for possible values).

• page-count: No. of pages of the corresponding type of information (description/claims/drawings).

• application-pages: Page range (from-to) of the application that contains the referred type of information (description/claims/drawings).

The possible values of the phase attribute are:

Document overview type	XML Sub-element in <check-list>	Option selected in sub-tab	Value of phase
Description	<cl-description>	Description in the PCT application as published	"international-application-as-filed"
Description	<cl-description>	Translation of published description (**)	"translation-of-international-application"
Description	<cl-description>	Description amended under Article 34 PCT	"amendments-during-international-exam"
Description	<cl-description>	Translation of description amended under Article 34 PCT (**)	"translation-of-amendments-during-international-exam"
Description	<cl-description>	Amendments on entry into the European phase	"entry-into-regional-phase"
Claims (*)	<cl-claims>	Claims in the PCT application as published	"international-application-as-filed"
Claims (*)	<cl-claims>	Claims amended under Article 19 PCT	"amendments-after-international-srep"
Claims (*)	<cl-claims>	Claims amended under Article 34 PCT	"amendments-during-international-exam"
Claims (*)	<cl-claims>	Amendments on entry into the European phase	"entry-into-regional-phase"
Drawings	<cl-drawings>	Drawings in the PCT application as published (***)	"international-application-as-filed"
Drawings	<cl-drawings>	Translation of published drawings (**)	"translation-of-international-application"
Drawings	<cl-drawings>	Drawings amended under Article 34 PCT	"amendments-during-international-exam"
Drawings	<cl-drawings>	Amendments on entry into the European phase	"entry-into-regional-phase"

(*) For claims, only one of the listed options can be selected at a time, i.e., only one <cl-claims> entry containing its overview data may be present in <check-list> for the single selected option for claims.

(**) Option only available if the selected Language of the international publication in the EP Entry tab is a non-EPO language

(***) For drawings, this option is mutually exclusive with all others (i.e., you can either select this option only or any combination of the others excluding the former).

In addition to the pages no. and interval overview information described above, the following attributes must also be included in a separate <cl-claims> element containing information concerning the no. of claims:

• number-of-claims: Number of claims for the European phase.

• number-claims-fee-calculation: Only when amended claims are attached. Number of claims for which claims fees will be paid (including first 15 claims).

Below is a snippet showing an example <check-list> section containing the document overview information for all types of specifications documents listed above (description, claims and drawings) with the "in the PCT application as published" option selected for all of them:

…
  </parties>
  <check-list total-page-count="8">
     <cl-request/>
     <cl-description page-count="1"
                     phase="international-application-as-filed"
                     application-pages="1-1"/>
     <cl-claims page-count="2"
                phase="international-application-as-filed"
                application-pages="2-3"/>
     <cl-claims number-of-claims="20"/>
     <cl-drawings page-count="1"
                  phase="international-application-as-filed"
                  application-pages="4-4"/>    
 </check-list>
  <ep-language-of-filing lang-code="de">en</ep-language-of-filing>
  <ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
     …

Please note that the total number of pages registered in the total-page-count attribute of the <check-list> element is recalculated during import and it is thus not necessary to include this data in the file to be imported.

Additionally, please note also that, if amendments are attached to the EP1200 submission, their corresponding page count and other overview attributes are stored in separate entries in <check-list> with attribute phase="entry-into-regional-phase". For <cl-claims>, the number-of-claims attributes should also appear in said entry along with the rest of the metadata concerning the amended claims.

See the example below for a case where the application's description is both referred to as published in the PCT application (phase="international-application-as-filed") and for which amendments are also being attached in the EP1200 submission:

<check-list page-count="8">
     <cl-request/>
     <cl-description page-count="10"
                     phase="international-application-as-filed"
                     application-pages="4-6"/>
     <cl-description page-count="2"
                     ppf="1"
                     ppl="2"
                     phase="entry-into-regional-phase">AMSPECEPO-1.pdf</cl-description>
     …

Some more detailed scenarios will be shown on the subsequent examples provided below:

Amendments on entry into the European phase, EPO is designated office:

XML ep-euro-pct.xml: check-list

The total number of pages is registered in the total-page-count attribute of the <check-list> element. It is recalculated during import and it is thus not necessary to include this data in the file to be imported.

For each part of the documents indicated in the document overview, a separate child element is added to the <check-list> element: <cl-description>, <cl-claims> and <cl-drawings>. The number of pages is specified in the page-count attribute, while the type of document to be examined is contained in the phase attribute.

Please note:

• The number of claims can be found in the number-of-claims attribute (12) in a separate <cl-claims> element.

• The number of claims you intend to pay for (including first 15 claims) is reflected in the number-claims-fee-calculation attribute (13) in the same <cl-claims> element.

<parties>
<priority-claims>
<search-authority>
  <isa>
    <country>EP</country>
  </isa>
</search-authority>
<check-list total-page-count="23">
  <cl-request/>
  <cl-description page-count="8" phase="international-application-as-filed" application-pages="1-8"/>
  <cl-description page-count="7" phase="entry-into-regional-phase" application-pages="1-7"/>
  <cl-claims page-count="4" phase="entry-into-regional-phase" application-pages="1-4"/>
  <cl-claims number-of-claims="25" number-claims-fee-calculation="20"/>
  <cl-drawings page-count="2" phase="international-application-as-filed" application-pages="13-15"/>
  <cl-drawings page-count="1" phase="entry-into-regional-phase" application-pages="1-1"/>
</check-list>
<ep-language-of-filing lang-code="en">en</ep-language-of-filing>
<ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">

<fee index="15" topay="yes">
  <type-of-fee>standard</type-of-fee>
  <fee-factor>5</fee-factor>
  <fee-schedule>1125</fee-schedule>
  <fee-sub-amount>225</fee-sub-amount>
  <fee-reduction-factor>-1</fee-reduction-factor>
</fee>
<fee index="15e" topay="yes">
  <type-of-fee>standard</type-of-fee>
  <fee-factor>0</fee-factor>
  <fee-schedule>0</fee-schedule>
  <fee-sub-amount>555</fee-sub-amount>
  <fee-reduction-factor>-1</fee-reduction-factor>
</fee>
<fee index="520" topay="yes">
  <type-of-fee>standard</type-of-fee>
  <fee-factor user-input="">0</fee-factor>
  <fee-schedule>0</fee-schedule>
  <fee-sub-amount>14</fee-sub-amount>
  <fee-reduction-factor>-1</fee-reduction-factor>
</fee>
</standard-fee>
<fee-calc-info>
  <search-region region="EP"/>
  <IPEA ipea="EP"/>
</fee-calc-info>
<fee-total-amount>6085</fee-total-amount>
</fees>
</ep-financial-data>

<parties>
<priority-claims>
<search-authority>
  <isa>
    <country>EP</country>
  </isa>
</search-authority>
<check-list total-page-count="23">
  <cl-request/>
  <cl-description page-count="8" phase="international-application-as-filed" application-pages="1-8"/>
  <cl-description page-count="7" phase="entry-into-regional-phase" application-pages="1-7"/>
  <cl-claims page-count="4" phase="entry-into-regional-phase" application-pages="1-4"/>
  <cl-claims number-of-claims="25" number-claims-fee-calculation="20"/>
  <cl-drawings page-count="2" phase="international-application-as-filed" application-pages="13-15"/>
  <cl-drawings page-count="1" phase="entry-into-regional-phase" application-pages="1-1"/>
</check-list>
<ep-language-of-filing lang-code="en">en</ep-language-of-filing>
<ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">

<fee index="520" topay="yes">
  <type-of-fee>standard</type-of-fee>
  <fee-factor user-input="">6</fee-factor>
  <fee-schedule>84</fee-schedule>
  <fee-sub-amount>14</fee-sub-amount>
  <fee-reduction-factor>-1</fee-reduction-factor>
</fee>

Additional documents

The additional documents that can be attached to a EP1200 application are:

• Other documents:
  • General authorisations
  • Specific authorisations
  • US certified priority documents
  • Other documents (description is entered by applicant)
• Replies to written opinion/IPER
• Search results required under Rule 141(1) EPC
• Amendments with annotations:
  • Amended claims with annotations
  • Amended description with annotations
  • Amended drawings with annotations

The example below shows an application with three documents attached: a general authorisation, a reply to written opinion/IPER and amended drawings with annotations.

 Documents with handwritten amendments are no longer accepted (for exceptions to this rule see the EPO Official Journal 2013, 603-604)
(http://archive.epo.org/epo/pubs/oj013/12_13/12_6033.pdf).

XML ep-euro-pct.xml

<ep-electronic-files doc-type="SPECTRANEPO">
<ep-electronic-files doc-type="REPWOIPER">
  <applicant-file-name>Reply.pdf</applicant-file-name>
  <epo-file-name>REPLYWO-1.pdf</epo-file-name>
</ep-electronic-files>
<ep-electronic-files doc-type="1004">
  <applicant-file-name>Authorization Nano.pdf</applicant-file-name>
  <epo-file-name>GENAUTH-1.pdf</epo-file-name>
</ep-electronic-files>
<ep-electronic-files doc-type="DRAW-HWA">
  <applicant-file-name>Drawings amended annotations.pdf</applicant-file-name>
  <epo-file-name>DRAW-HWA.pdf</epo-file-name>
</ep-electronic-files>
</ep-office-specific-data>
</ep-euro-pct>

EP1200 – Fees

The Fees tab in form EP1200 allows applicants to enter payment details for the fees charged by the EPO. The fee selection is set automatically by the OLF2.0 application; users can also select additional fees manually.

You can retrieve the most recent fee schedule from the EPO website under interactive schedule of fees (https://my.epoline.org/epoline-portal/classic/epoline.Scheduleoffees).

The global information about fee payment is imported from imported from section <ep-financial-data> inside <ep-office-specific-data>. This root <ep-financial-data> element must contain the following attributes:

• curr: currency for fee payment. This is always "EUR" by default.

• fee-amounts-unlocked-by-user: if set to "yes", indicates that the user has intentionally unlocked the fee amounts and the EPO will not correct any values in this case. Otherwise, this is set to "no", and the fees may therefore be subject to automatic correction by the EPO. Note that, for OLF2.0, this value will always be "no" (if set to "yes" in the imported ep-euro-pct.xml file, it will revert to "no" upon successful importation).

The root <ep-financial-data> XML element should be followed by the following child elements:

XML Element	Description, attributes and sub-elements
<mode-of-payment>	Element containing the details of the chosen mode of fee payment. Please refer to section EP1200 – Fees / Payment details for more details and examples.
<reimbursement>	(only present when providing refund instructions) Element with a single attribute accno, containing the date of fee schedule validity (in yyyyMMdd format), and the full name of the account holder as value. E.g.: <reimbursement accno="28123456">John Smith</reimbursement>
<sr-refund>	(only when providing refund instructions) when requesting refund of search fee ((Article 9(2) RFees)), this element should be present and contain the application number to which the search report corresponds. E.g.: <sr-refund>John Smith</sr-refund>
<add-copies>	(only when providing refund instructions) element indicating the no. of additional copies of the documents cited in the EP search report.
<fees>	This section must be always present. The <fees> element must include a single attribute date, containing the date of fee schedule validity (in yyyyMMdd format) plus the following sub-elements: <standard-fee>: contains a set of <fee> elements, each one indicating the details of one of the applicable standard fees for EP1200. This section must be always present. Please refer to section EP1200 – Fees - Standard fees for details. <fee-calc-info>: This element must contain the following children holding information about the selected ISA (International searching authority) and IPEA (International Preliminary Examining Authority): <search-region>: Empty element containing a region attribute, indicating if the ISA is the EPO ("EP") or any other authority ("Other"). <IPEA>: Empty element containing an ipea attribute, indicating if the IPEA is the EPO ("EP") or any other authority ("other"). <fee-total-amount>: element containing a numeric value indicating the total amount to be paid for all selected fees and in the selected currency. E.g.: <fee-total-amount>2842.5</fee-total-amount>

Below is a basic example showing the general structure of element <ep-financial-data> in ep-euro-pct.xml and the top-level sub-elements in it:

<ep-euro-pct lang="en"
            dtd-version="1.0"
            ro="EP"
            produced-by="applicant"
            date-produced=""
            regional-phase-office="designated"
            amendments-enclosed="no"
            comments-on="no">
  …
  <ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
     …
     </ep-electronic-files>
     <ep-financial-data curr="EUR" fee-amounts-unlocked-by-user="no">
        <mode-of-payment accno="28555555"
                         mode-type="deposit"
                         currency="EUR"
                         deferred-execution-date="20231130">Account holder</mode-of-payment>
        <fees date="20231114">
           <standard-fee>
              <fee index="2" topay="yes">
                 <type-of-fee>standard</type-of-fee>
                 <fee-factor>0.7</fee-factor>
                 <fee-schedule>94.50</fee-schedule>
                 <fee-sub-amount>135.00</fee-sub-amount>
                 <fee-reduction-factor>0.30</fee-reduction-factor>
              </fee>
              …
           </standard-fee>
   <fee-calc-info>
      <search-region region="EP"/>
      <IPEA ipea="EP"/>
           </fee-calc-info>
           <fee-total-amount>2842.5</fee-total-amount>
        </fees>
     </ep-financial-data>
  </ep-office-specific-data>
</ep-euro-pct>

Payment details

Information regarding the payment details is imported from the <mode-of-payment> XML element under <ep-financial-data> in ep-euro-pct.xml. This element must contain the following attributes:

• accno: when using mode-type "auto" or "deposit" (see below), this must be set to the number of EPO deposit account to be used. E.g.: "28123456"

• mode-type: selected mode of payment. Can be one of the following values depending on the chosen option:

  • "auto": Automatic debit order.

  • "deposit": Debit from deposit account.

  • "bank": Bank transfer.

  • "ccard": Credit card.

• currency: currency for fee payment. This is always "EUR" by default.

• deferred-execution-date: when requesting a deferred date of payment execution, this attribute must be present and have said date in yyyyMMdd format as value.

In addition to the applicable attributes described above, the element should also contain the full name of the account/card holder to be used for payment as its value.

Below is a snippet showing the basic structure of element <mode-of-payment>:

<ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
     …
     </ep-electronic-files>
     <ep-financial-data curr="EUR" fee-amounts-unlocked-by-user="no">
        <mode-of-payment accno="28555555"
                         mode-type="deposit"
                         currency="EUR"
                         deferred-execution-date="20231130">Account holder</mode-of-payment>
        <fees date="20231114">
        …

Note that, in the OLF2.0 GUI, there are different options for the mode of payment. If automatic debit order is selected, the sub-tabs for selection of individual fees (e.g., Procedural fees) will not display any options. Likewise, the PDF form does not contain any fee lists, but the fees will be included in the XML data.

In the example below, bank transfer is selected as the mode of payment. As of 01/09/2014, Euro payments within the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) must be exclusively issued to the EPO's bank account with the Commerzbank AG, München (DE). The most recent information on making payments to the EPO is available from the EPO website at Applying for a patent > Forms and fees > Making payments (http://www.epo.org/applying/forms-fees/payment.html).

XML ep-euro-pct.xml

ℹ️ Note

If an XML file contains an invalid EPO bank account, this data is not imported and a severity 1 validation message is triggered.

<translation-info>
<ep-financial-data curr="EUR" fee-amounts-unlocked-by-user="no">
  <mode-of-payment accno="DE20 7008 0000 0333 880000" mode-type="bank" currency="EUR">DE</mode-of-payment>
  <reimbursement accno="28987654 ">Universal Engineering</reimbursement>
  <fees date="20140401">
    <standard-fee>
      <fee-calc-info>
      <fee-total-amount>3680</fee-total-amount>
    </fees>
</ep-financial-data>

Standard fees

Information regarding the applicable EP1200 standard fees is imported from the <standard-fee> XML element under <fees> in ep-euro-pct.xml.

Note that, if you intend to pay for any of the specific fees applicable to form EP1200 (or want to be able to select/de-select it from the Fees tab in the GUI at a later point before filing), a <fee> element for it must be present under <standard-fee>. Otherwise, the fee will not be selected for payment, and you will not be able to select it on the draft submission using the GUI.

Each <fee> element must contain the following attributes:

• index: index no. of the corresponding applicable fee, as it appears on the Fees tab in OLF2.0. Note that any zeroes on the left should not be included. E.g.: "1" for fee 001, "5e", for fee 005e, "401"…

• topay: yes/no value indicating if the corresponding fee is intended to be paid ("yes") or not ("no").

Each <fee> element must contain the following XML child elements:

XML Element	Description, attributes and sub-elements
<type-of-fee>	Indicates the type of fee. This should always have the value "standard". E.g.: <type-of-fee>standard</type-of-fee>
<fee-factor>	Indicates the factor (from 0 to 1, corresponding to a 0-100% percentage) in which the fee will be paid, according to the specified quantity and applicable reduction factor. I.e., this value should be equal to: E.g., for a quantity of 2 and a reduction of 30% (0.3), this value should be 1.4. If the fee is not selected for payment (topay="no"), this element can be empty. Note that, when using element <fee-reduction-amount> to apply a fixed reduction (when applicable according to the guidelines), this value should be a negative amount instead of a 0-1 factor. E.g., for a reduction of 100%: <fee-factor>-1460</fee-factor> <fee-sub-amount>1460.00</fee-sub-amount> <fee-reduction-amount>1460</fee-reduction-amount>
<fee-schedule>	Indicates the amount to pay for the total quantity of the specified fee, after applying reductions. I.e., this value should be equal to: <fee-sub-amount> * quantity (i.e., number of fees as indicated in GUI) * <fee-reduction-factor> (from 0 to 1) E.g.: 94.50
<fee-sub-amount>	Indicates the base amount for the fee according to the current fee schedule (i.e., not taking reductions into account). E.g.: 135.00 If the fee is not selected for payment (topay="no"), this element can be empty.
<fee-reduction-factor>	Indicates the reduction factor (from 0 to 1, corresponding to a 0-100% percentage) for the fee, when applicable. E.g.: 0.30 This element can be left empty if the fee is not selected for payment (topay="no") or for a default value of 0.

The <fee-schedule> element is used for the (calculated) fee amount and the <fee-sub-amount> element contains the fee schedule (for one single fee).

Use the <fee-reduction-factor> element to indicate a fee reduction on a fixed or percentage basis. The default value is 0.

Use the <fee-reduction-amount> element to indicate a fee reduction on an amount basis.

Below is a snippet showing the basic structure of element <standard-fee> that includes a <fee> entry for procedural fee 002 (i.e., Fee for a European search - Applications filed on/after 01.07.2005) applicable to form EP1200:

<ep-financial-data curr="EUR" fee-amounts-unlocked-by-user="no">
        <mode-of-payment accno="28555555"
                         mode-type="deposit"
                         currency="EUR"
                         deferred-execution-date="20231130">Account holder</mode-of-payment>
        <fees date="20231114">
           <standard-fee>
              <fee index="2" topay="yes">
                 <type-of-fee>standard</type-of-fee>
                 <fee-factor>1</fee-factor>
                 <fee-schedule> 1390</fee-schedule>
                 <fee-sub-amount>1390.00</fee-sub-amount>
                 <fee-reduction-amoun>0</fee-reduction-amount>
              </fee>
              …    
          <fee-total-amount>2842.5</fee-total-amount>
        </fees>

For more details, please see the example provided below and/or refer to the examples previously provided in: EP1001 – Fees

Fee selection example

The example in this section shows an application with the EPO as elected office and the IPEA is the EPO. The number of claims on entry into the European phase is 25, of which 20 are intended for the fee calculation. The translations and amended documents add up to 37 pages. Furthermore, the applicant(s) selected the Declaration under Rule 7a(1) option to apply a reduction in some fees.

XML ep-euro-pct.xml

The <check-list> element contains the information on the number of claims; see: EP(1200) – Documents - Amendments.

<ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
  <ep-request-for-exam-art94 lang="es"/>
  <ep-designated-states waiver-communication-and-processing-of-non-designated-states="no">
    <ep-declarations>
      <declaration-of-entity-or-natural-person/>
    </ep-declarations>
    <translation-info>
  <ep-financial-data curr="EUR" fee-amounts-unlocked-by-user="no">
    <mode-of-payment accno="DE20 7008 0000 0333 880000" mode-type="bank" currency="EUR">DE</mode-of-payment>
    <fees date="20240516">
      <standard-fee>
        <fee index="2" topay="yes">
          <type-of-fee>standard</type-of-fee>
          <fee-factor>1</fee-factor>
          <fee-schedule>1520.00</fee-schedule>
          <fee-sub-amount>1520</fee-sub-amount>
          <fee-reduction-factor>0</fee-reduction-factor>
        </fee>
        <fee index="5e" topay="yes">
        <fee index="6" topay="yes">
          <type-of-fee>standard</type-of-fee>
          <fee-factor>0.7</fee-factor>
          <fee-schedule>1340.50</fee-schedule>
          <fee-sub-amount>1915</fee-sub-amount>
          <fee-reduction-factor>0.30</fee-reduction-factor>
        </fee>
        <fee index="6e" topay="no">
        <fee index="13" topay="no">
        <fee index="15" topay="yes">
          <type-of-fee>standard</type-of-fee>
          <fee-factor>5</fee-factor>
          <fee-schedule>1375.00</fee-schedule>
          <fee-sub-amount>275</fee-sub-amount>
          <fee-reduction-factor/>
        </fee>
        <fee index="15e" topay="no">
        <fee index="20" topay="yes">

<fee index="520" topay="no">
  <type-of-fee>standard</type-of-fee>
  <fee-factor user-input=""/>
  <fee-schedule/>
  <fee-sub-amount>17</fee-sub-amount>
  <fee-reduction-factor>0</fee-reduction-factor>
</fee>
</standard-fee>
<fee-calc-info>
  <search-region region="EP"/>
  <IPEA ipea="EP"/>
</fee-calc-info>
<fee-total-amount>5699.5</fee-total-amount>
</fees>
</ep-financial-data>

 The <fee-schedule> element is used for the (calculated) fee amount and the
<fee-sub-amount> element contains the fee schedule (for one single fee).
Use the <fee-reduction-factor> element to indicate a fee reduction on a fixed or percentage basis.
Use the <fee-reduction-amount> element to indicate a fee reduction on an amount basis.

EP1200 – Annotations

At the end of the <ep-office-specific-data> section (right after closure of the <ep- electronic-files> section corresponding to documents details), one or more <ep-notes-to-EPO> elements can be included, each one containing Annotations to send additional information to the EPO. The number of annotations is unlimited.

If no annotations are to be included in the submission (as they are entirely optional), no <ep-notes-to-EPO> elements should be present in the ep-euro-pct.xml file.

The root element for each annotation (<ep-notes-to-EPO>) must contain the following attributes:

• page: fixed string value "Annotate".

• id: a "note#" string where # is a number representing the order of creation of the current note (i.e.: note1 for the firstly note created, then note2, note3 and so on).

E.g.: <ep-notes-to-EPO page="Annotate" id="note1">

The table below lists the child XML elements that must appear under each <ep-notes-to-EPO> entry:

XML Element	Description and attributes
<author>	Full name (first + last name) of the user authoring the annotation.
<subject>	Subject of the annotation.
<date>	Date in which the annotation was created, in yyyyMMdd format. Note that this value is not shown in the request PDF for EP1200.
<dtext>	Text contents of the annotation.

The example below shows how two annotations created by two different users are stored in the ep-euro-pct.xml file:

<ep-office-specific-data office="EP" lang="en">
     	…
     <ep-notes-to-EPO page="Annotate" id="note1">
        <author>Salvatore Manzoni</author>
        <subject>Account information</subject>
        <date>20130127</date>
        <dtext>Payment details may be changed at a later date.</dtext>
     </ep-notes-to-EPO>
     <ep-notes-to-EPO page="Annotate" id="note2">
        <author>Luigi Manzoni</author>
        <subject>Representation</subject>
        <date>20141027</date>
        <dtext>There will be a new representative for Mr. Manzoni starting Jan 1 2015, who will take over all applications of Salvatore Manzoni and TechInvent S.A. The details and the authorisation will be filed subsequently.</dtext>
     </ep-notes-to-EPO>
  </ep-office-specific-data>
</ep-euro-pct>