Albania Accedes to London Agreement

On May 31, 2013, Albania deposited its instrument of accession to the London Agreement, formally the Agreement on the application of Article 65 of the Convention on the Grant of European Patents. The agreement entered into force in Albania, the 19th contracting state, on September 1, 2013.

Even though the agreement is aimed at reducing the translation costs of European Patents granted under the European Patent Convention (EPC), Albania has not yet made any changes in respect to translation requirements, because the local patent law that will include the provisions pursuant to Article 65(1) of the EPC has not yet been adopted.

Therefore, during the transitional period, it is advisable to continue the validation process as previously, that is to continue translating patent specification and claims, as well as the European Patent Office (EPO) forms 2006 and 2056 into Albanian, in order for the patent to be published by the Albanian PTO.

The Albanian PTO will not reject a patent application filed in one of the official EPO languages, but it will not publish it in its Official Bulletin, which is in Albanian only.

Prepared by: Melina Nika

For more information, please contact mail@petosevic.com.

Source: Albanian PTO; EPO