As of 1 April 2025, the validation agreement between the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Lao PDR has entered into force. As a result, granted European patents can now be validated in Laos according to that country’s national patent law.
The agreement, originally signed on 13 May 2024, follows agreements between the EPO and Morocco, the Republic of Moldova, Tunisia, Cambodia and Georgia. With six validation agreements in force and the extension agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina, the number of countries for which patent protection can be obtained on the basis of a single European patent application rises to 46.
Read the notice on the EPO website here.
