5.2 Priority documents issued by the EPO 

Any priority document (i.e. the certified copy of the European patent application together with the certificate stating the date of filing thereof) will only be issued to the (original) applicant or that party's successor in title on written request. If such request is missing, the EPO will invite the requester to file it and will supply the certified copy only once this requirement has been fulfilled. In the case of applications filed in a language other than an official language of the EPO (Art. 14(2)), the priority document relates to the application as originally filed, not to the translation in one of the official languages of the EPO.

The President of the EPO determines all necessary arrangements, including the form of the priority document and the circumstances in which an administrative fee is payable (see A‑XI, 1 and the decision of the President of the EPO dated 20 February 2019 on the inspection of files, OJ EPO 2019, A16). The content of priority documents corresponds to the application documents as available on the date of filing and as contained in the electronic file, reproduced in black and white (see A‑IX, 1.2 and 7.1 and the notice from the EPO dated 14 January 2020, OJ EPO 2020, A7).

Where a European patent application claims the priority of a previous European patent application or an international application filed with the EPO as receiving Office under the PCT, a certified copy of the previous application will be included in the file free of charge (see also A‑III, 6.7). Furthermore, if the patent office at which a European priority document is to be filed participates in the WIPO Digital Access Service (DAS), it is possible for that office to retrieve the European priority document free of charge via DAS by providing the access code that the EPO generates for every European patent application filed with it and every international application filed with the EPO as receiving Office (see also A‑III, 6.7).