The President of the European Patent Office, having regard to Rules 53(2) and 163(2) of the European Patent Convention (EPC), has decided as follows:

Article 1 Inclusion of a copy of the previous application in the file of a European patent application

The European Patent Office shall include free of charge in the file of a European patent application a copy of the previous application from which priority is claimed if the previous application is:

(a) a European patent application,

(b) an international application filed with the European Patent Office as receiving Office under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT),

(c) a Japanese patent or utility model application,

(d) a Korean patent or utility model application,

(e) a United States provisional or non-provisional patent application.

Article 2 Information to the applicant

(1) As soon as the European Patent Office has included in the file of the European patent application a copy of the previous application from which priority is claimed, it shall inform the applicant accordingly, unless the previous application is a European patent application or an interna- tional application filed with the European Patent Office as receiving Office under the PCT.

(2) If a copy of the previous application cannot be included in the file, it shall not be deemed duly filed under Rule 53(2) EPC. The European Patent Office shall inform the applicant accordingly in good time and give him an opportunity to file the copy subsequently in accordance with Rule 53(1) EPC.

Article 3 Euro-PCT applications

Articles 1 and 2 shall also apply to interna- tional applications entering the European phase before the European Patent Office as designated or elected Office (Rule 163(2) EPC).

Article 4 Previous decisions superseded

When this decision enters into force, the decision dated 12 July 2007 on the filing of priority documents (Special edition No. 3, OJ EPO 2007, B.1) shall cease to have effect.

Article 5 Entry into force

This decision shall enter into force on 1 April 2009.

Done at Munich, 17 March 2009

Alison BRIMELOW President

References: r53; r163;