4.4.1Where and how to file 

4.4.001After you have filed a European patent application, you may file other documents as referred to in Rule 50 EPC with the EPO either electronically (via the EPO Online Filing software, EPO Online Filing 2.0, the EPO Web-Form Filing service or the EPO Contingency Upload Service) or by hand or by postal services. However, the EPO Web-Form Filing service cannot be used to file authorisations or documents in respect of post-grant or appeal proceedings (see also points 5.5.003, 5.6.002 and 5.7.004). Priority documents cannot be filed using the EPO Web-Form Filing service or the EPO Contingency Upload Service. Certain procedural acts may be filed electronically using the MyEPO Portfolio service (see point 4.4.002). For subsequently filed documents, it is recommended that you use the electronic filing tools, using EPO Form 1038E. For paper filings, the EPO provides forms which serve either as a prepared acknowledgement of receipt (EPO Form 1037) or as a letter accompanying subsequently filed documents (EPO Form 1038), available for download free of charge from the EPO website (epo.org). Except during oral proceedings, documents may not be filed by email.

4.4.002A new online service called MyEPO Portfolio was launched on 1 June 2022. A secure, web-based online service for parties to proceedings before the EPO, it allows users to view their application portfolios, consult documents in the digital file, receive EPO Mailbox communications and perform procedural acts in response to communications from the EPO. It also provides for a shared area in which you can work on your application documents with the examiner. The range of procedural acts which can be performed will be expanded progressively. You can use an EPO smart card or a secure two-factor verification method to access MyEPO Portfolio. 

4.4.003If you filed the application with a national authority, you may likewise file all other documents relating to the application with that authority, subject to any restrictions under national law, but only until the date on which you receive notification that the EPO has received your application. Once you have received this notification, you must file any documents with the EPO directly. 

Subsequently filed documents replacing parts of the European patent application, i.e. the description, claims or drawings, must also meet the formal requirements of Rule 49 and must be filed in typed form.