Article 69
Termination of financial obligations
- Rights of the Office to the payment of fees shall be barred
four years from the end of the calendar year in which the fee
fell due.
- Rights against the Office for the refunding of fees or
sums of money paid in excess of a fee shall be barred after four
years from the end of the calendar year in which the right
arose.
- The periods laid down in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be
interrupted, in the case covered by paragraph 1, by a request
for payment of the fee and, in the case covered by paragraph 2,
by a reasoned claim in writing. On interruption it shall begin
again immediately and shall end at the latest six years after the
end of the year in which it originally began, unless in the
meantime judicial proceedings to enforce the right have begun.
In this case the period shall end at the earliest one year after
the judgment has acquired the authority of a final decision.