The search fee for a supplementary European search report is reduced by a fixed amount for PCT applications for which the Patent Office of Austria, Finland, Spain, Sweden or Turkey, the Nordic Patent Institute or the Visegrad Patent Institute was the International Searching Authority or where one of these offices prepared the supplementary international search report (see the Decisions of the Administrative Council of 27 October 2011, OJ EPO 2011, 616; of 25 October 2012, OJ EPO 2012, 584; of 16 December 2015, OJ EPO 2016, A2; and of 28 June 2017, OJ EPO 2017, A57).[Art. 153(7); ]

It is to be noted that where the requirements for fee reduction are fulfilled the fee reduction is granted only once, i.e. for the supplementary search fee paid under Rule 159(1)(e). The reduction applies independently of whether the first invention in the claims was searched by the ISA in the international phase. The reduction does not apply to any further search fee (to be) paid under Rule 164(1).

No reduction of the supplementary search fee applies for PCT applications for which an International Searching Authority other than the ones mentioned above was selected. The reduction of the search fee for a supplementary European search report for PCT applications for which the Patent Office of the USA, Japan, China, Australia, Russia or Korea was the International Searching Authority (see OJ EPO 2005, 548) was abrogated as of 1 April 2018 (OJ EPO 2018, A3). For the latest overview of the amounts payable, see the Notice from the EPO dated 20 March 2020, OJ EPO 2020, A30.