Article 88

EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE

Information from the EPO

Decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 16 October 2024 concerning the electronic filing of documents

The President of the European Patent Office, having regard to Rules 2, 49 and 50 of the European Patent Convention (EPC), Rule 89bis.1 and 2 of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and Rule 20(2)(a) and (c) of the Rules relating to Unitary Patent Protection, has decided as follows:

Article 1

Electronic filings

1. Documents may, in accordance with this decision and without prejudice to other means of filing,1 be filed electronically using EPO Online Filing (OLF), Online Filing 2.0 or the EPO Contingency Upload Service.

2. Filings using OLF may be made online or on electronic data carriers accepted by the European Patent Office (EPO). Data carriers accepted by the EPO are

(a) CD-R discs conforming to the ISO 9660 standard,

(b) DVD-R discs, and

(c) DVD+R discs.

Article 2

Admissibility of electronic filing

1. Subject to Article 3 of this decision, European patent applications, international (PCT) applications and other documents relating to such applications or to patents deriving from such applications may be filed with the EPO in electronic form.

2. European patent applications may also be filed in electronic form with the competent national authorities of those contracting states which so permit, using OLF or other services for electronic filing, provided they are accepted by the EPO.

Article 3

Priority documents

1. Priority documents relating to European patent applications or international (PCT) applications in the European phase may be filed electronically using OLF or Online Filing 2.0, provided they have been digitally signed by the issuing authority and the signature is accepted by the EPO.

2. The EPO Contingency Upload Service must not be used to file priority documents.

3. Priority documents filed in contravention of paragraphs 1 or 2 will be deemed not to have been received. The sender, if identifiable, will be notified without delay.

Article 4

Sequence listings

Sequence listings may only be filed in accordance with the provisions governing the filing of sequence listings.2

Article 5

Access to electronic filing

1. The use of OLF with the EPO requires an EPO account and a means of authentication allowed by the EPO.

2. Access to and use of Online Filing 2.0 provided on the EPO website requires an EPO account registered for this service and a means of authentication allowed by the EPO.

3. Access to and use of the EPO Contingency Upload Service provided on the EPO website requires a temporary sign-in or a means of authentication allowed by the EPO.

Article 6

Specific requirements for OLF

1. Documents filed using OLF are to be packaged and submitted using the software provided free of charge by the EPO.3

2. Documents filed on an electronic data carrier must be accompanied by a paper document identifying the applicant and/or their representative, indicating an address for postal delivery and listing the files stored on the data carrier.

Article 7

Integration of ePCT in Online Filing 2.0

Online Filing 2.0 integrates for international (PCT) applications and other documents relating to such applications the relevant features of the ePCT service.

Article 8

Document formats

1. Documents filed using OLF or Online Filing 2.0 must be in PDF or, where allowed, in XML in accordance with the Administrative Instructions under the PCT, Part 7 and Annex F, without prejudice to the requirements for the filing of sequence listings in accordance with Article 4 and the possibility to attach documents in their original data format under Article 9.

2. Without prejudice to Article 4, documents filed using the EPO Contingency Upload Service must be in PDF, in accordance with the Administrative Instructions under the PCT, Part 7 and Annex F.

3. Subject to Article 12, where a filed document does not comply with the required document format, the EPO will invite the party concerned to refile it in accordance with the applicable requirements and within a period to be specified; where the document is a European patent application document, this invitation will be issued in accordance with Rule 58 EPC. If the party concerned fails to comply with the invitation,

(a) where the document is a European patent application document, the application will be refused (Art. 90(5) EPC),

(b) where the document is an international (PCT) application document, the provisions of the PCT apply,

(c) where the document is a document other than a patent application document, it will be deemed not to have been received.

Article 9

Original data formats

1. Technical documents relating to a European patent application or international (PCT) application may, when an application is filed using OLF or Online Filing 2.0, in addition be submitted in the data format in which they were created, provided the files contain either plain ASCII text or were created with one of the following word processing programs:

(a) Microsoft Word 2010 or later,

(b) Corel WordPerfect 2000 or later, or

(c) OpenOffice Writer version 4.0 or later (including the corresponding StarOffice products).

2. Objects created in other programs may be embedded into documents generated using the word processing programs specified in paragraph 1 above as long as they can be viewed without any loss of information.

3. Technical documents in a format other than those mentioned in paragraph 1 above may be attached in that format only if the applicant informs the EPO at the time of filing where it can reasonably acquire the relevant software.

Article 10

Signature

Where filed documents require signature, this may take the form of a facsimile signature, a text string signature or, when using OLF, an enhanced electronic signature, all as defined in the Administrative Instructions under the PCT, Annex F.

Article 11

Acknowledgement of receipt

1. Receipt of documents filed online using OLF or Online Filing 2.0 in accordance with this decision is acknowledged electronically by the EPO or the competent national authority of the contracting state concerned (hereinafter "the office") following submission. The acknowledgment of receipt is provided

(a) digitally signed by the office within the submission session, for documents filed online using OLF, and

(b) digitally signed by the EPO in Online Filing 2.0, for documents filed using this service.

2. Where such acknowledgement is not successfully transmitted using OLF or Online Filing 2.0, the office will transmit it by other means without delay, provided it has sufficient information to do so.

3. The acknowledgement indicates the identity of the office, the date and time of receipt, a reference or application number assigned by the office, a list of the files submitted and, for online filings using OLF or Online Filing 2.0, a hash value (the message digest).

4. Acknowledgement of receipt does not imply the accordance of a date of filing to an application.

5. Receipt of documents filed using the EPO Contingency Upload Service in accordance with this decision is acknowledged electronically by the EPO in the service. An acknowledgement indicating in particular the application number, where applicable, is sent according to the provisions governing the filing of documents on paper.

6. Documents filed on electronic data carriers are subject mutatis mutandis to the provisions governing the filing of documents on paper.

Article 12

Illegible or incomplete documents and infected files

1. Where a filed document is illegible or incomplete, that part of it which is illegible or missing will be deemed not to have been received.

2. If a filed document is infected with a computer virus or contains other malicious software, it will be deemed to be illegible. The EPO is not obliged to receive, open or process any document with such a deficiency.

3. Where a filed document is found to be deficient within the meaning of paragraph 1 or 2, the sender, if identifiable, will be notified without delay.

Article 13

Previous decisions superseded

When this decision enters into force, the decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 3 May 2023 concerning the electronic filing of documents (OJ EPO 2023, A48) will cease to have effect.

Article 14

Entry into force

This decision enters into force on 1 January 2025.

Done at Munich, 16 October 2024

António CAMPINOS

President