having regard to the Agreement under the PCT between the European Patent Organi- sation and the International Bureau of WIPO which entered into force on 13 December 2007, and in particular Article 5(2)(i) and Annex C, Part II(3), thereof,

has decided as follows:

Article 1 Refundable amounts

Where the international search report drawn up by the Office acting as Interna- tional Searching Authority is based on an earlier search report prepared by the Office on an application whose priority is claimed for the international application, the interna- tional search fee paid for the pending inter- national application shall be refunded as follows:

Article 2 Refund level

If the EPO can make full use of the earlier search report, it shall make a full refund as indicated in Article 1.

If the EPO can make partial use of the earlier search report, it shall make a partial refund as indicated in Article 1.

Article 3 Criteria for refund and refund procedure

The criteria determining the applicable refund level (full or partial use of the earlier search report) and the refund procedure shall be governed by the notice from the European Patent Office dated 9 January 2009 concerning the criteria for refund of search fees (OJ EPO 2009, 99).

1 Includes international-type searches covered by a specific working agreement. 2 Applies only to search requests in respect of national applications transmitted to the EPO after 1 January 2009.

Article 4 Entry into force

This decision shall enter into force on 1 April 2009 and shall apply to all international applications in respect of which the interna- tional search is completed on or after that date.

It replaces the decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 31 January 2008 (OJ EPO 2008, 195).

Done at Munich, 22 December 2008

Alison Brimelow President

References: articl9;