Amendment of Rule 154(1) EPC: deletion from list of professional representatives upon non-payment of subscription

The Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation today unanimously approved to amend Rule 154(1) EPC to delete Article 4(2) of the Regulation on discipline for professional representatives.

The amendment is an optimisation of the procedure to delete European Patent Attorneys from the list. The amendment reduces the number of legally required reminders to a single one and replaces the present time limit (“end of September”) by integrating the epi timelines of 5 months from the due date. The amended rule will enter into force as of 1 January 2019. The new rule will be the basis for streamlining and simplifying the annual subscription process. It will read:

Rule 154
Amendment of the list of professional representatives

(1) The entry of a professional representative shall be deleted from the list of professional representatives if he so requests or if, despite a reminder, he fails to pay the applicable annual subscription to the Institute within five months from either:

(a) 1 January for members on the list at that date; or

(b) the date of entry for members entered on the list after 1 January of the year for which the subscription is due.

Article 4(2) of the Regulation on discipline

Article 4(2) of the Regulation on discipline for professional representatives will be deleted as of 1 January 2019.
It provides today that the disciplinary penalties provided for in Article 4(1) could also be incurred if a professional representative did not pay the subscription in due time.
The provision is deleted because deletion from the list of professional representatives is already the consequence of non-payment in accordance with Rule 154(1) EPC.

Further information

Further details on the annual subscription process 2019 will be published in epi Information and on the epi website later this year.

The working document (CA/46/18) and the decision will be published later on the EPO website{target=_blank}