The European Patent Office (EPO) has announced a significant update to the PACE program, which allows applicants to request accelerated processing for European patent applications. Starting on 1 February 2026, acceleration under PACE will be available only during the examination phase.
What changes?
With the change, PACE will no longer be available for the search phase. Thus, acceleration under the PACE program may be requested only during examination.
Other rules to note
Only one PACE request may be filed per application, and the PACE requests are not published and are excluded from public file inspection.
When a request for accelerated examination is submitted, the EPO strives to issue the next office action within three months of receiving either the application, the applicant’s response under Rule 70a or Article 161(1) EPC, or the request for accelerated examination—whichever is received last.
As before, applications may be removed from PACE if, for example, the applicant requests an extension of time limits, the application is deemed withdrawn, or the renewal fees are not paid in time. If an application is removed from PACE (for example, because an extension has been requested), it cannot be restored to the accelerated prosecution. However, in the last-mentioned situation, the accelerated prosecution will resume if the renewal fee is paid within a six-month grace period.
Third-party observations
The EPO maintains acceleration for applications in which third-party observations on patentability under Article 115 EPC have been filed with the EPO by a non-anonymous third party. This EPO Notice is available here.
The EPO will treat such applications as if a PACE request has been filed and will accelerate their prosecution. In case the observation is filed during the PCT international phase, the EPO will accelerate the examination in the EPO regional phase if the third party has clearly expressed its wish for expediting the next office action. Such a filing of a third-party observation does not count as a request for PACE by the applicant.
In a situation where a third-party observation initiates expedited prosecution, the applicant cannot withdraw the application from the accelerated procedure, for example, by filing an extension request or withdrawing its earlier PACE request.
Enquiries
The EPO is also looking to accelerate patent granting by making changes to its procedures for enquiries and its interaction with the updated PACE program. For applications under PACE, a second enquiry regarding the processing of the file will automatically cause the EPO to issue the next action within one month.
This one-month promise thus applies only to second enquiries where the second enquiry is filed following the lapse of an estimated response period from a previous enquiry, as announced by the EPO here.
Options for applicants
In addition to the PACE program, acceleration through the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is possible depending on prior examination results.
You can read the EPO announcement about the updated PACE program here.
If you have any questions or need assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact Senior Counsel, Patent Attorney Folke Johansson.