United Kingdom Classification (UKC) key
Change of practice on Classification to the UKC
From 2 April 2008 we will no longer print any indication
of the UKC on the front page of
our documents. We no longer apply UKC to the applications we consider*. We stopped applying the UKC on 1 July 2007 after conducting a consultation 
(123Kb);
our response (81Kb) is available on our website. UK patent documents published since then have carried either a UKC
term which was applied before 1 July
2007 or an indication that the document is not classified on the UKC.
We continue to apply IPC8 terms to our patent publications and these are printed on the front page of our documents.
*Due to international obligations documents appropriate to UKC Headings B5N and C7A will continue to be classified to the UKC.
The UK Patent Classification (UKC) Key
The UKC key defines the classification codes of the United Kingdom (UK) classification system. The UKC key has been used to classify UK patents by their technical content, to make it easier to search for related patent documents.
If you want to
search the historical collection of patent documents on the UKC
key, you will find the Espace
Access Europe 
CDs,
produced by the European Patent Office (EPO), useful.
The UK classification codes and their meanings are contained in Sections A-H.
- Section A: Human Necessities
- Section B: Performing Operations
- Section C: Chemistry, Metallurgy
- Section D: Textiles, Paper
- Section E: Civil Engineering, Building Accessories
- Section F: Mechanics, Lighting, Heating
- Section G: Instrumentation
- Section H: Electricity
- Notes on the use of the UK Classification
Key (80Kb)
- Structure of the UKC (242Kb)
- UKC
(Edition W) Catchwords (933Kb)
- Documentation Record (showing availability of file lists)
- UKC/IPC
Concordance (164Kb)
- U1S
Universal
Indexing
Schedule (113Kb)
- Introduction to U1S (29Kb)
- U1S
Catchwords (184Kb)
- Unit Introductions (showing changed headings)
