The European Patent Office (EPO) recently announced via separate news releases that Norway and Croatia have acceded to the European Patent Convention (EPC). As noted by the EPO release for Norway, on October 5, 2007, the Government of the Kingdom of Norway deposited the instrument of ratification of the European Patent Convention and the instrument of accession to the Act revising the EPC of November 29, 2000. Similarly, on October 31, 2007, the Government of the Republic of Croatia deposited its own instruments, and as of January 1, 2008, Norway and Croatia will join the other 32 member states of the European Patent Organization. As of January 1, 2008, the 34 member states will be Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. Specific details pertaining to the designation of each new state within European patent applications, corresponding updates to Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) practice, and the issuance of European patents for Norway and Croatia are provided in the first two links below.

EPO Norway News Release: LINK
EPO Croatia News Release: LINK
Norwegian Industrial Property Office Website: LINK
Croatian Intellectual Property Office Website: LINK