Why are guidelines needed?
Our staff work according to clearly defined guidelines. These ensure consistent, transparent, and high-quality procedures and make our working methods transparent and understandable.
The individual guidelines
- Guidelines for the Examination of Patent Applications, version effective from January 1, 2023 (Fees as of July 1, 2025)(pdf, 414 KB)
- Guidelines for the Examination of Utility Model Applications, version effective from January 1, 2023 (fees as of July 1, 2025)(pdf, 330 KB)
- Guidelines for the Examination of Software Inventions(pdf, 192 KB)
- Supplementary Information Concerning Biotechnology(pdf, 113 KB)
- Supplementary Information Concerning Biotechnology(pdf, 85 KB)
- WIPO Standard ST.22 – Recommendation on Machine Readability (OCR)(pdf, 1 MB)