🔍 New EPO Guidelines 2025 – What You Need to Know, Part 4 

📌 Part 4: Fee Reduction for Micro-Entities 

What changed: 
The Guidelines now reflect the change introduced on 1 April 2024, which provides a 30% fee reduction for certain categories of applicants – specifically micro-entities, including: 
• Natural persons 
• Non-profit organisations 
• Universities 
• Public research organisations 

This reduction applies to most fees in the patent granting process, including filing, search, examination, designation, grant, and renewal fees for the 3rd and 4th years. The Guidelines now explicitly cover the requirements for fee reductions, as well as the consequences of non-compliance with eligibility criteria. 
🔗 Ref: GL A‑X, 9.4 

💡 Why it matters: 
This change makes the European patent system more accessible to small-scale innovators and public research institutions, reducing cost barriers at critical early stages of innovation. 

✅ What to watch out for or do differently: 
✔ Make sure that the applicant has not filed more than five EP applications in the last five years. 
✔ The fee reduction must be requested at the time of payment, and the applicant must be the sole applicant at that moment. 
✔ Ineligible declarations may lead to loss of rights—double-check applicants status before claiming the reduction.