The 2026 EPO Guidelines for Examination enter into force on 1 April 2026. These revisions introduce substantive changes to claim interpretation, assessment of novelty for selection inventions and marketed products, the use of AI, and the acceptance of colour drawings. The main changes are summarised below.
Substantive Changes to Examination Practice
- Claim Interpretation (G 1/24): The description and drawings must now always be referred to when interpreting claims, moving away from the previous approach of only doing so in cases of ambiguity. However, they cannot be used to read in restrictive features not suggested by the claim wording.
- Selection Inventions: The traditional three-part test (narrow, sufficiently far removed, and not “seriously contemplated”) has been abandoned. Instead, novelty is assessed against the “gold standard” of direct and unambiguous disclosure.
- Marketed Products as Prior Art (G 1/23): Products placed on the market before the filing date, along with all their analysable properties, form part of the state of the art. The requirement for an enabling disclosure (reproducibility) no longer applies to these products.
- Further Medical Use Claims: New guidance clarifies that novelty-destroying prior art for therapeutic uses must provide a plausible basis for the effect (e.g., through data), meaning mere announcements of clinical trials without results may not destroy novelty.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Transformation
- AI Policy: A new dedicated section (General Part, Section 5) clarifies that parties remain fully responsible for the content of submissions, even if prepared using AI tools.
- AI-Assisted Minute-Taking: Sound recordings will now be made during oral proceedings held by videoconference to assist AI in drafting minutes. These recordings are for internal use only, are not provided to parties, and are deleted after minutes are issued.
Procedural and Formal Updates
- Colour Drawings: Electronic filing of colour and greyscale drawings is now fully permitted and integrated into the Guidelines across filing and amendment stages.
- PACE Program Changes: The Program for Accelerated Prosecution (PACE) has been abolished for the search phase; but remains available only for the examination phase.
- Consolidation of Guides: The content of the former Euro-PCT Guide has been integrated into Part A (Chapters XII–XV) of the EPC Guidelines to consolidate all formality examination information.
- Immediate Refusal (Rule 71(3)): The EPO can now immediately refuse an application if an applicant repeatedly requests amendments after a Rule 71(3) communication that were already discussed and found inadmissible.
For more detailed information, the EPO Official Journal Notice (A4) and the Preview Version of the 2026 Guidelines are available for review.
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