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Legal Alert: WIPO Standard ST.26 is coming into force before the European Patent Office on July 1, 2022

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The European Patent Office has published a decision that the new WIPO Standard ST.26 for sequence listings will replace the former WIPO Standard ST.25.

European patent applications or international applications that disclose nucleotide and/or amino acid sequences and are filed on or after July 1, 2022, must include a sequence listing as part of the description, in compliance with the new WIPO Standard ST.26 (Rule 30(1) EPC / Rule 5.2 PCT). This also applies to European divisional applications filed on or after July 1, 2022.

WIPO Standard ST.26 does not apply to European and international applications filed before July 1, 2022. These applications must continue to comply with WIPO Standard ST.25 upon entry into the European phase and in the event that corrections, rectifications, amendments, or translations are made.

Further details can be found on the EPO Website.