Debiting occurs on the basis of an electronic debit order signed by the account holder or the authorised representative. The debit order may be a debit order for individual fees for one or more applications, or an automatic debit order for a specific patent application (see A‑X, 4.3).[]

The debit order for European patent applications must be filed in an electronically processable format (XML) via one of the following:[]

Debit orders submitted in any other way, e.g. on paper, by fax, via the Web-Form Filing service or using a different format such as a PDF attachment, are invalid and thus will not be carried out (for an exception, see A‑II, 1.5).

If any of the accepted means of filing debit orders is unavailable at the EPO on the last day for paying a particular fee, the payment period will be extended to the first day thereafter on which all such means as are available for the type of application concerned can be accessed again. Payment periods are also extended in the event of a general unavailability of electronic communication services, or other like reasons within the meaning of Rule 134(5) (see the Notice from the EPO dated 18 January 2018, OJ EPO 2018, A25).[Rule 134(1); (5); ]

A debit order may specify that a payment order is to be executed at a later date than the submission date. In that case, the payment date is deemed to be the execution date specified. Payment orders with a deferred execution date may be executed up to 40 days after the submission date.[]

A debit order must be carried out notwithstanding incorrect information given in it, if the intention of the person giving the order is clear (see T 152/82). The EPO corrects a debit order of its own motion, for example, if there is a discrepancy between the type of fee intended to be paid and the corresponding amount due on the date of receipt of the debit order (see also A‑X, 7.1.2). The party is informed of any such correction by means of a communication from the EPO providing a two-month period for objecting to it in the event of disagreement by the party. In that case, the fee will be debited as indicated in the (erroneous) debit order or, if applicable, any corrective booking carried out will be reverted. The principles outlined above, however, do not allow the correction of a debit order by adding any fee that is not indicated in it, even if, according to the status of proceedings, that fee is due on the date of receipt of the debit order.

A debit order may be revoked in whole or in part by signed written notice from the person making the payment, preferably sent to support@epo.org by email or a contact form via the EPO website (epo.org). For a notice of revocation of the debit order to be effective, it must be received by the EPO no later than the date on which the debit order is received. This also applies in case of a deferred payment date, irrespective of the execution date specified.[]

Payments via deposit account effected in Online Fee Payment are validated, meaning that the debit order for a fee is automatically rejected if the fee falls within one of the following categories:[]

See the Decision of the President of the EPO dated 19 February 2019, OJ EPO 2019, A20.