EPO Grant Procedure: 7 Steps After the Rule 71(3) Notice

Years of examination come down to a single letter. When the Examining Division is convinced your application meets the European Patent Convention, it sends a communication under Rule 71(3) EPC, the formal “intention to grant.” From that moment a non-extendable four-month clock runs, and missing it means the application is deemed withdrawn. The EPO grant procedure rewards applicants who know exactly what that letter asks for and punishes those who treat it as a formality. This guide walks the seven steps from the Rule 71(3) notice to a granted European patent, with the fees, deadlines, and approval traps that decide the outcome.

The EPO Grant Procedure Starts With Rule 71(3)

The EPO grant procedure formally begins when the Examining Division issues a communication under Rule 71(3) EPC. The letter does two things: it tells you the EPO intends to grant, and it attaches the exact text it proposes to grant, the so-called Druckexemplar (“copy for printing”).

That text is not always identical to what you filed. Examiners routinely fold in minor amendments to claims, description, or drawings to tidy up the application before grant. The Rule 71(3) notice is therefore both good news and a homework assignment: you must check the proposed text line by line before you approve it, because once granted, the wording is fixed across every country where you validate.

Attached to the communication is an invitation to complete three acts within four months: approve (or amend) the text, pay the grant and publishing fee, and file translations of the claims. The clock is the part that catches people. It is set by Rule 71(3) and is non-extendable; if you do nothing, Rule 71(7) deems the application withdrawn. Diarize it the day it arrives.

Read the Druckexemplar Before You Approve

Approval is the single most consequential click in European prosecution, and it is irreversible in practice. By approving, you accept every word of the EPO’s proposed text. If the examiner introduced an amendment that narrows a claim, misstates a feature, or drops a fallback position you wanted, that error becomes your granted patent.

Common problems worth hunting for in the proposed text:

• Unwanted claim amendments that narrow scope or introduce an added-matter problem under Article 123(2) EPC.
• Description amendments bringing the specification into line with the claims, which can create inconsistencies or unintended admissions.
• Wrong applicant, inventor, or priority details that are far easier to fix now than after grant.
• Drawing or reference-sign mismatches between the claims and figures.

If the text is acceptable, you approve and move to fees and translations. If it is not, you do not approve, you request amendments instead, which sends the procedure down a different branch covered below. Treat the proposed text the way you would a contract you are about to sign: read every clause, because there is no comfortable way out later.

Claims Translations and the Fees You Must Pay

Within the same four-month window you must file a translation of the claims into the two official EPO languages other than the language of the proceedings. If your case was prosecuted in English, that means French and German; the language choice you locked in years earlier, explained in our guide to the EPO language of proceedings, drives this step. Budget translation time well before the deadline, not the week it falls due.

On the money side, the Rule 71(3) notice invites you to pay the combined fee for grant and publishing of the European patent. Two extra charges can apply:

• Claims fees under Rule 71(4) if the text intended for grant contains more than 15 claims, charged for the 16th and each subsequent claim, unless already paid earlier in prosecution.
• A renewal fee for the next year if it falls due around the grant date, since renewals keep running during the grant procedure.

Fee amounts change, so confirm the current figures on the EPO schedule of fees before you instruct payment. The principle to remember: the EPO will not proceed to grant until the text is approved, the translations are on file, and every fee invited by the Rule 71(3) notice is paid in full within the four months.

When You Disagree: Requesting Amendments

If the proposed text is wrong or you want a different claim set, you respond within the four months by requesting reasoned amendments or corrections instead of approving. The Examining Division then has options. If it agrees, it usually issues a fresh communication under Rule 71(3) restarting a new four-month period against the revised text. Under the simplified procedure of Rule 71(6), minor amendments can be approved and the patent granted without a second full round.

If the Division disagrees with your amendments, it resumes examination, and grant is delayed until the issue is resolved. This is the moment to get claim scope right rather than accept a compromise you will regret. It is also a natural point to consider whether a divisional application should be filed to pursue subject matter that will not survive in the parent, because once the parent grants, that window narrows.

A practical caution: every amendment you propose must comply with Article 123(2) EPC’s strict added-matter standard. The EPO is far less forgiving than the USPTO here. Late, sloppy amendments at the Rule 71(3) stage are a common way to turn a clean allowance into a fresh objection.

Decision to Grant and the Mention in the Bulletin

Once the text is approved and all acts are completed, the Examining Division issues the Decision to Grant. The decisive legal event, however, is the publication of the mention of grant in the European Patent Bulletin. Under Article 97(3) EPC, the European patent takes effect on the date that mention is published.

That date matters for several reasons:

• It starts the nine-month opposition period under Article 99 EPC, during which any third party can attack the patent centrally at the EPO.
• It triggers the validation deadlines in each country and the request period for unitary effect.
• It converts a single European application into a bundle of national rights (or a Unitary Patent) that you must now maintain.

Grant is not the finish line; it is the handoff from a centralized procedure to national enforcement. Expect a third party to be watching, especially in crowded fields, and have a plan for the opposition window before it opens. Our overview of EPO opposition proceedings explains what that defense looks like.

After Grant: Validation, Unitary Effect, and Renewals

A granted European patent is not automatically enforceable everywhere. Within tight deadlines after the mention of grant you must decide how to bring it into force:

• Request unitary effect within one month of the mention of grant to obtain a single Unitary Patent covering the participating EU states.
• Validate nationally in non-unitary states (and any country you want outside the unitary system), generally within three months, meeting each country’s translation and fee rules.
• Combine both, which is the common strategy: a Unitary Patent plus classic validation in states like the UK, Spain, or Switzerland.

Translation requirements at this stage vary by country and are softened by the London Agreement; our guide to European patent validation breaks down who needs what. From here, renewal fees are paid to each national office (or to the EPO for unitary effect), and the right is enforced country by country, or, for unitary and many classic patents, before the Unified Patent Court. Plan and budget validation before grant, not after, because the post-grant clocks are short and unforgiving.

How PerspireIP Can Help With the EPO Grant Procedure

The Rule 71(3) notice is the wrong moment to be reading the proposed text for the first time. PerspireIP helps applicants and counsel review the Druckexemplar against the as-filed application, manage claims translations and fee payments inside the four-month window, and map a country-by-country validation and renewal strategy that fits your budget. Talk to our team before your next European case reaches allowance.

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