From July 1st 1997, some of the fees payable for filing an application for a European patent will be substantially reduced. These are: the filing fee, the fee for a European or International Search, and the fee for the designated States.
This reduction will also apply to applications made before this date, provided that the fees' time limits have not expired, or said fees have already been paid.

As of July 1st 1997, the designation fees will be payable within the same period of time as those for a request for an Examination, that is, within 6 months of the date of publication, on the European Patent Bulletin, of the European Search report.
Moreover, even if the fees for the request for an Examination are paid before, the deadline for the payment of the designation fees will remain unchanged.
The new time limit for the payment of designation fees will also be applied to all requests for designation made before July 1st 1997 if they have not been paid and if the time limit for their payment has not already expired.