{"id":29146,"date":"2026-03-17T11:03:44","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T11:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regimbeau.eu\/?post_type=insight&#038;p=29146"},"modified":"2026-06-03T15:06:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T15:06:51","slug":"accelerated-prosecution-of-proceedings-before-the-epo","status":"publish","type":"insight","link":"https:\/\/regimbeau.eu\/en\/insight\/accelerated-prosecution-of-proceedings-before-the-epo\/","title":{"rendered":"Accelerated prosecution of proceedings before the EPO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This programme, which has recently undergone changes, <strong>is set to be revised<\/strong> by the EPO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since <strong>1 February 2026<\/strong>, the PACE programme is <strong>limited to the examination phase<\/strong> and no longer applies to the search phase. This change is due to improvements in the Office\u2019s processing times, with the <strong>European search report now being issued on average within approximately 5.5 months<\/strong> from the filing date or from the expiry of the time limit provided for in Rule 161(2) EPC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">PACE applications remain <strong>free of charge<\/strong> and must be <strong>filed using a dedicated form<\/strong>; in principle, this allows applicants to <strong>receive examination notifications within approximately three months<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This revision aims to <strong>focus efforts on speeding up the examination phase<\/strong>, which is considered the stage where rapid processing is most critical for applicants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our teams are on hand to help you assess whether to file such a request!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More information here : <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epo.org\/fr\/legal\/official-journal\/2025\/12\/a69\">https:\/\/www.epo.org\/fr\/legal\/official-journal\/2025\/12\/a69<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This programme, which has recently undergone changes, is set to be revised by the EPO. Since 1 February 2026, the PACE programme is limited to the examination phase and no...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-29146","insight","type-insight","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Accelerated prosecution of proceedings before the EPO - Regimbeau<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/regimbeau.eu\/en\/insight\/accelerated-prosecution-of-proceedings-before-the-epo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Accelerated prosecution of proceedings before the EPO - Regimbeau\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This programme, which has recently undergone changes, is set to be revised by the EPO. 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