Belgium dispenses with translation requirements

In each of the contracting states (currently 38) of the European Patent Convention (EPC) a European patent has the same legal status as a national patent granted by that state. However, to put the European patent into effect in a designated state certain translation requirements - which vary from country to country - have to be fulfilled. One step to reduce the translation costs is the London agreement, whose contracting states either do not require any translation of European patents (Germany, France, Ireland, Switzerland/Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, United Kingdom) or simplified the translation requirements (among others Denmark, Finland, Norway,...). Other contracting states of the EPC, including Belgium, did not accede to the London agreement. Until now, the Belgian patent office required a translation into one of the official languages of Belgium (Dutch, German, French) for European patents which were granted in English. Due to a recent change in Belgian patent law, as of 1 January 2017, it is no longer required to translate English EP-patents. In this way, Belgium prepares to accede to the London agreement. The amendment of the Belgian patent law is only a minor contribution towards the waiving of translation requirements, which are a substantial cost factor in the European patent system. The proposed "EU-patent" (official term: European patent with unitary effect) would bring along an even greater reduction of translation costs. But due to the vote of the United Kingdom to leave the EU ("Brexit") the implementation of the EU-patent stagnates at present. However, the British government has signalled its approval to ratify the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court, which is inextricably linked with the EU-patent. It is to be hoped therefore that the days of costly translations between different official languages of the EU are numbered.