We have been
informed that since 29 April 2021 some users have been experiencing problems
when paying fees via credit card using the credit card fee payment and refund
claim service.

Legal
safeguards may be available against outages of online filing or fee payment
services, depending on the service affected, the day and duration of the outage
and the procedure in question. For details see Rule 134 EPC, Rule 82quater.2
PCT, point 5.5 of the ADA (Supplementary publication 4, OJ EPO 2019) and the
notice from the EPO dated 22 October 2020 (OJ EPO 2020, A120).

If you have
been experiencing the problems mentioned above, please try switching to a
different browser. If that does not help, you may opt to pay your fees via bank
transfer using the same service.

We apologise
for any inconvenience.

Please always
quote the reference number indicated above when addressing the EPO in relation
to this issue.

12.05.2021, 16:45 hrs (CET)