4.2 Numbering of sheets of drawings 

All sheets making up the European patent application must be numbered in consecutive Arabic numerals. These must be centred at the top of the sheet but not in the top margin.

The numbering on sheets of drawings must be positioned within the maximum usable surface area as defined in Art. 1(1) of the decision of the President of the EPO dated 25 November 2022. Instead of appearing in the middle of the sheet, the numbering may, however, be positioned towards the right-hand side if the drawing comes too close to the middle of the edge of the usable surface. This numbering should be clear, for example in numbers larger than those used for reference numbers.

All application sheets must be numbered consecutively. The application consists of all the following documents: the request, the description, the claims, the drawings and the abstract. The numbering should preferably be effected using three separate series of numbering, each beginning with one. The first series applies to the request only and is already printed on the form to be used. The second series commences with the first sheet of the description and continues through the claims until the last sheet of the abstract. The third series applies only to the sheets of the drawings and commences with the first sheet of such drawings.

There are no objections to including the description, claims, abstract and drawings in one series of numbering beginning with one. The series of numbering must then commence with the first sheet of the description.