These include applicants for patent applications with the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office and holders of Slovenian patents who have their domicile or principal place of business in the Republic of Slovenia, regardless of their nationality. These may be natural persons, small and medium-sized enterprises, universities, research institutes and non-profit organisations. The fee reduction will be 80 %, which means that the above-mentioned persons will only have to pay 20 % of the fee (EUR 493.60). The reduction will apply to a maximum of five written opinion enquiries per year per natural person, ten per year per university, research institute and non-profit organisation, and no limit for small and medium-sized enterprises, up to a maximum of 400 enquiries per year in total.

The financial support provided in the form of a fee reduction will apply to searches carried out by the European Patent Office (EPO) in the framework of the Working Agreement between the Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Slovenia and the European Patent Organisation on cooperation in searches, which was signed on 4 September this year and will be published in the Official Journal of the Republic of Slovenia after ratification.

The Working Agreement will apply to patent applications filed with the Slovenian Office as from 1 January 2024 and to national granted patents for which an application has been filed as from 1 January 2015.

The Administrative Agreement was signed by the President of the EPO António Campinos and the Director of the Intellectual Property Office Karin Žvokelj, who expressed her satisfaction that this is the beginning of a new cooperation with the EPO, which will be of particular benefit to applicants who will file their first patent application with the Slovenian Office.

The Administrative Agreement was signed on the margins of the European Patent Organisation (EPO) Administrative Council meeting, which is currently being attended in Munich by the EPO Director, Ms. Karin Žvokelj. This meeting of the EPO Governing Council was particularly important as the Member States discussed, among other things, the draft EPO Strategic Plan for the period up to 2028.

The Administrative Agreement between the European Patent Office and the Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Slovenia on the reduction of search fees on the basis of a working agreement on cooperation in searches.

We invite all interested national patent applicants and Slovenian patent holders who would like to obtain the EPO's opinion on the novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability of their inventions to contact us.