Article 43

Notice from the European Patent Office dated 8 September 2026 concerning the mandatory electronic filing and notification of documents

I. Introduction

1. By decision CA/D 2/26 of 19 March 2026, the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation amended, inter alia, Rules 2, 114 and 125 of the Implementing Regulations to the EPC.¹ These amendments will enter into force on 1 April 2027 and enable a complete transition to a fully digital patent granting process by the European Patent Office (EPO), in line with the commitment to enhance quality, efficiency and user experience set out in its Strategic Plan 2028.
2. With these amendments, the EPO is introducing mandatory electronic filing of documents and mandatory electronic notification in proceedings under the European Patent Convention (EPC), proceedings under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and proceedings related to European patents with unitary effect.
3. With a view to ensuring that users are informed well in advance, the implementing decisions of the President of the EPO, which will apply as of 1 April 2027, have been issued now already.² This notice provides additional guidance on the application of amended Rules 2, 114 and 125 EPC and the consequences of non-compliance with the prescribed electronic means of filing and notification. Further information, including on technical aspects, will be published in the period leading up to the entry into force of the amended rules on 1 April 2027.

II. Filing

Mandatory electronic filing

4. Under Rule 2 EPC as amended with effect from 1 April 2027, electronic filing will become the standard way of filing documents with the EPO. Online Filing 2.0 is the service to be used for filing patent applications and other documents, while MyEPO can be used for filing certain subsequent submissions and documents.³ The EPO Contingency Upload Service remains available as a fallback option, in particular for emergency situations. In addition, the ePCT service of the International Bureau of WIPO can be used for filing international (PCT) applications and other documents relating to such applications to be filed in the international phase, except in proceedings before the EPO as Authority specified for supplementary international search.

Filing by postal services

5. Filing by postal services will remain possible, especially, but not exclusively, for the purpose of obtaining a filing date or meeting a time limit. However, any application or other document filed this way will have to be refiled electronically within two months of an invitation to do so, unless an exception applies.
6. Under Rule 2(2) EPC as amended, documents filed by postal services must be refiled electronically; it will therefore not be possible to refile them by postal services, even for the purpose of complying with the prescribed two-month time limit for electronic refiling.
7. Irrespective of this obligation to refile electronically, the filing fee for filing on paper will be due for a European or international patent application filed by postal services; the reduced fee for filing online or in electronic form will not apply.

Refiling a European or international patent application

8. If a European patent application or an international (PCT) application is filed by postal services, the EPO will accord it a date of filing, so long as the requirements under Article 80 and Rule 40 EPC or under Article 11 PCT are fulfilled and invite the applicant to refile the application documents electronically using one of the permitted means of electronic filing within a non-extendable period of two months.
9. The applicant is strongly encouraged to carefully check that the refiled application documents match those originally filed by postal services.
10. It is also recommended that the application documents be refiled as soon as possible to ensure that they can be checked promptly and that any deficiencies identified (e.g. missing or differing content) can still be remedied before expiry of the already running two-month period.
11. If the applicant fails to comply with the invitation in time, the European patent application will be refused under Rule 2(2) EPC. In the case of an international (PCT) application, failure to comply with the invitation will result in the application being considered withdrawn in accordance with Article 14(1)(b) and Rule 89bis.1(d-ter) PCT.
12. If the electronically refiled application documents differ in content from the application as originally filed, or if the documents are refiled by postal services, the EPO will inform the applicant accordingly. If complete matching application documents have still not been filed electronically by the end of the two-month period, the EPO will issue a decision to refuse the application or a communication noting a loss of rights.
13. As the relevant provisions of the EPC Implementing Regulations are applicable mutatis mutandis, a request for unitary effect is considered equivalent to a European patent application for the purposes of Rule 2(2) EPC. Consequently, if the proprietor fails to comply in due time with the invitation to refile electronically, the request for unitary effect will be refused in accordance with Rule 20(2)(a) of the Rules relating to Unitary Patent Protection (UPR) in conjunction with Rule 2(2) EPC.

Refiling other documents

14. If other documents ("subsequently filed documents") – including EPO Form 1200 "Entry into the European phase (EPO as designated or elected Office)" – are filed by postal services, the EPO will invite the party concerned to refile them electronically using one of the permitted means of electronic filing within two months. In this case, the documents will retain their original date of receipt. However, if the party does not comply with the invitation in time, they will be deemed not to have been received.
15. If the electronically refiled documents differ in content, the EPO will treat this as if the party concerned had failed to comply with the invitation in time, and the documents filed via postal services will be deemed not to have been received. The electronically refiled documents with different content will be treated as received on the date of their actual receipt.

Remedies

16. A decision refusing a European application due to a failure to electronically refile the application documents as originally filed within two months is open to appeal under Article 106 EPC. Re-establishment of rights under Article 122 EPC is also available in respect of the time limit for refiling them in electronic form.
17. Where, in proceedings under the EPC, a loss of rights results from a failure to electronically refile subsequently filed documents as originally filed, further processing under Article 121 EPC and re-establishment of rights under Article 122 EPC are available, as applicable. If the party concerned considers that the findings in the communication noting the loss of rights are inaccurate, it may also request a decision in accordance with Rule 112(2) EPC. If the application is refused due to a failure to electronically refile other documents as originally filed, the party concerned may also file an appeal.
18. In proceedings under the PCT, the provisions of the PCT apply.
19. In proceedings related to European patents with unitary effect, re-establishment of rights pursuant to Rule 22 UPR is available. If the party concerned considers that the findings in the communication noting the loss of rights are inaccurate, it may also request a decision in accordance with Rule 20(2)(d) UPR in conjunction with Rule 112(2) EPC.

Exceptions to the obligation to refile electronically

20. Certified paper copies, physical objects and submissions by individuals who are not a party to proceedings are exempt from the obligation to refile electronically. Physical objects include accepted data carriers containing sequence listings,⁴ multimedia citations or documents that cannot be filed online because of their size or otherwise. Data carriers accepted by the EPO are CD-R discs conforming to the ISO 9660 standard, DVD-R and DVD+R discs and USB flash drives. Such data carriers must be readable without any loss of information and free of any computer virus or other harmful software.
21. Individuals who are not parties to proceedings include witnesses, experts, inventors who are not an applicant or proprietor, court-appointed trustees or administrators, and registered licensees or pledgees. Enquiries submitted to the EPO by national courts or authorities, requests under Rule 33 EPC and documents filed by postal services within a period of two months before the scheduled date of oral proceedings before the Boards of Appeal of the EPO are also exempt from having to be refiled electronically. Finally, where special circumstances in individual cases so require, the EPO may exceptionally waive the requirement to refile a document.
22. Without prejudice to any national law, the obligation to refile electronically under Rule 2(2) EPC does not apply to European patent applications filed by postal services with a competent national authority under Article 75 EPC of a contracting state which permits this or to international applications filed by postal services with an authority of a contracting state for transmittal to the EPO as the receiving Office under Rule 157(3) EPC.

Signature

23. Where the EPC provides that a document must be signed, the signature can take the form of a facsimile signature or a text-string signature, as defined in Annex F to the Administrative Instructions under the PCT. This is without prejudice to the provisions concerning signatures on contracts and declarations under Rules 22 and 85 EPC, Rule 23 EPC and Rule 20(2)(b) UPR and on authorisations.⁵ Documents filed by postal services may also be signed by handwritten signature. In MyEPO, documents can only be signed by text-string signature.

Acknowledgement of receipt

24. Receipt of documents filed online is acknowledged electronically by the EPO following submission. If a European patent application or international (PCT) application is filed using the EPO Contingency Upload Service, a separate acknowledgement of receipt indicating, in particular, the application number will also be provided.
25. Receipt of European patent applications and international (PCT) applications filed by postal services is acknowledged by the EPO by sending an acknowledgement of receipt indicating, in particular, the application number. No acknowledgment of receipt is sent for subsequently filed documents that are filed by postal services, but the EPO indicates the date of their receipt in the electronic file.

Abolition of automated mailboxes and delivery by hand

26. The automated mailboxes ("Nachtbriefkasten") in Berlin and Munich's PschorrHöfe buildings will be decommissioned from 1 April 2027. Similarly, it will no longer be possible to hand in documents to the porters at the filing offices of the EPO or otherwise to file by delivery by hand. During oral proceedings before a Board of Appeal or the Enlarged Board of Appeal, the filing of documents by delivery by hand may be permitted.

III. Third-party observations

27. Under Rule 114 EPC as amended with effect from 1 April 2027, third-party observations may be filed only electronically, using one of the available electronic filing methods.
28. To facilitate electronic filing of third-party observations, the EPO provides a dedicated online form. The online form can be accessed from various areas of the EPO website and via MyEPO and enables third parties to submit observations electronically without having to comply with the signature requirements applicable to other electronic filing methods. It also allows them to file observations anonymously. For further information, see the notice from the EPO dated 16 December 2025 concerning the improved online form, the updated means of filing and the processing of third-party observations under Article 115 EPC (OJ EPO 2025, A71).
29. Besides using the online form, third parties can also file observations electronically using Online Filing 2.0 or, where applicable, the EPO Contingency Upload Service, subject to the conditions and requirements governing those filing methods set out in the decision on the filing of documents.⁶
30. Third-party observations submitted on paper will no longer be accepted. As stated in amended Rule 114(2) EPC, they will be deemed not to have been filed and will also not be included in the file. They will, however, be forwarded to the unit in charge to ensure that any relevant information can be considered. If documents or arguments submitted by a third party on paper are considered relevant for assessing patentability, they will be introduced into the proceedings under Article 114(1) EPC but they will not be treated as third-party observations and will not lead to an acceleration of the procedure.⁷
31. The amendments to Rule 114 EPC do not affect the system for handling third-party observations filed under the PCT set out in sections 801 et seq. of the Administrative Instructions under the PCT. Under this system, third parties may continue to use ePCT for the electronic filing of observations referring to prior art which they believe to be relevant for assessing whether the invention claimed in the international application is new and/or involves an inventive step.

IV. Notification

32. Rule 125 EPC as amended with effect from 1 April 2027 provides that notification will be effected electronically unless one of the limited exceptions applies where notification by postal services is resorted to. Notification by delivery by hand will no longer be available.
33. This approach extends to documents not subject to formal notification: such documents will likewise be delivered electronically unless one of the limited exceptions applies.

Mandatory electronic notification through MyEPO Mailbox

34. Electronic notification will continue to be effected through MyEPO Mailbox pursuant to the decision on electronic notification.⁸ MyEPO Mailbox can be accessed in MyEPO or, on request, via an application programming interface (API).
35. By 1 April 2027, MyEPO Mailbox will be activated for all MyEPO portals and so will be available for the receipt of electronic notifications from the EPO. As each MyEPO account is linked to a MyEPO portal (also known as a MyEPO "company") when it is set up, representatives (i.e. professional representatives and legal practitioners, including when acting as members of an association under Rule 152(11) EPC) and parties acting without a representative who are already in a MyEPO portal but whose Mailbox is not yet activated, or who have been added as recipients to a MyEPO Mailbox but have not yet enabled the receipt of electronic communications, will be informed before Mailbox is activated for their MyEPO portal or the receipt of electronic communications is enabled. Mailbox and the receipt of electronic communications through it cannot later be deactivated.
36. Representatives and parties acting without a representative who are not yet in a MyEPO portal or who have not been added as recipients to a MyEPO Mailbox will need to create a portal or join an existing one and be added as a recipient to its Mailbox in order to receive notifications from the EPO. For MyEPO portals created on or after 1 April 2027, Mailbox will be activated automatically. The receipt of electronic communications will also be enabled automatically for any recipient added to a MyEPO Mailbox on or after 1 April 2027. Information and guidance on setting up a MyEPO account, linking it to a MyEPO portal, defining recipients of communications for a Mailbox and using Mailbox are available on the EPO website.⁹
37. International representatives ("agents") and applicants who do not have their residence or principal place of business in an EPC contracting state but are entitled to act before the EPO in PCT international phase proceedings can register for electronic notification via a MyEPO Mailbox to receive communications from the EPO acting as (Supplementary) International Searching Authority or International Preliminary Examining Authority in the international phase ("PCT Link" service).

Electronic notification using ePCT

38. For international applications, communications issued by the EPO as receiving Office, International Searching Authority or International Preliminary Examining Authority can also be delivered electronically via WIPO's ePCT service. If an applicant or international agent has activated a MyEPO Mailbox, the same communications may also be made available there in parallel. Further information on this service can be found in the notice from the EPO dated 22 April 2026 concerning electronic notification using ePCT (OJ EPO 2026, A29).

Exceptions to mandatory electronic notification

39. There are only limited exceptions to electronic notification. Pursuant to Rule 125(3) EPC and the decision of the President of the EPO concerning electronic notification (OJ EPO 2026, A40), cases in which notification will be on paper include where the addressee is an individual who is neither a party to the proceedings nor a professional representative or legal practitioner acting under Rule 130 EPC, such as a witness, expert, inventor who is not an applicant or proprietor, court-appointed trustee or administrator, registered licensee, pledgee or similar. Certified paper copies or physical objects will also be exempt from electronic notification.
40. There are also exceptions for communications in proceedings under the PCT (international phase) if the international agent or applicant does not have a MyEPO Mailbox and retrieval of communications via ePCT is not possible.

Consequences of not having a MyEPO Mailbox

41. Representatives (i.e. professional representatives and legal practitioners) and parties acting without a representative must ensure at all times that they are added as a recipient to a MyEPO Mailbox and that they are also able to access it.
42. If a representative or unrepresented party does not have a MyEPO account linked to a MyEPO portal or is not added as a recipient to a MyEPO Mailbox, or if they are deleted as a recipient from a MyEPO Mailbox without having been added to another one, and none of the exceptions to mandatory electronic notification applies (see paragraphs 39 et seq. above), the EPO will resort to public notification pursuant to Rule 129 EPC unless it considers that special circumstances in the individual case exceptionally justify notification by postal services. Special circumstances may exist, for example, where an unrepresented party has filed an application or has performed the acts necessary to enter the European phase without having a MyEPO account or where a representative has withdrawn from representation and no new representative has yet been appointed.