A divisional application must be filed by delivery by hand, by postal services or by fax with the EPO in Munich, The Hague or Berlin. It may also be filed using the EPO Online Filing software, the EPO case management system or the EPO Web-Form Filing service (see A‑II, 1.2.2).[Rule 36(2); Rule 35(1); ]

The filing of a European divisional application with a national authority has no effect in law; the authority may however, as a service, forward the European divisional application to the EPO. If a competent national authority chooses to forward the application, it is not deemed received until the documents have reached the EPO.

The divisional application may be filed by reference to a previously filed application. The procedures are as provided for in Rule 40(1)(c), Rule 40(2) and Rule 40(3) (see A‑II, 4.1.3.1). Where the divisional application is filed by reference to an international application which has effectively entered the European phase (see A-IV, 1.1) and was not filed with the EPO as receiving Office, a certified copy of the international application originally filed with the PCT receiving Office must be filed (OJ EPO 2009, 486).