OJ EPO 2012, 352

The President of the European Patent Office,

Having regard to Article 10(2)(a) and Rules 2 and 152 EPC,

Has decided as follows:

Article 1

Notification using the MyFiles service

(1) Professional representatives who hold a smart card issued or recognised by the European Patent Office and have activated their Mailbox to receive electronic notifications in accordance with the decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 13 December 2011^[ 1 ] may use the MyFiles service (see point 1 of the notice from the European Patent Office dated 13 December 2011) ^[ 2 ] in accordance with the present decision to notify the European Patent Office of representation changes.

(2) In proceedings under the EPC, the EPO will accept from professional representatives the following notifications in accordance with paragraph 1:

(a) termination of authorisation in respect of one or more European patent applications or European patents,

(b) transfer of representation in respect of one or more European patent applications or European patents to another representative or association of representatives; notification of such transfer will constitute notification of the termination of the previous representative's authorisation for the purposes of Article 1(2), first sentence, of the decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 12 July 2007 on the filing of authorisations^[ 3 ].

(3) A notification under paragraph 2 will be deemed to constitute communication of the termination of the representative's authorisation within the meaning of Rule 152(8) EPC.

Article 2

Authenticity

The authenticity of the notification must be confirmed by means of the representative's enhanced electronic signature.

Article 3

Receipt

(1) Receipt of any notification submitted to the EPO via the MyFiles service under Article 1 will be acknowledged by transmitting an electronic notification to the sender's Mailbox.

(2) The EPO will be deemed to have received the notification at the time it transmits the acknowledgement of receipt under paragraph 1.

Article 4

Entry into force

This decision enters into force on 7 May 2012.

Done at Munich, 26 April 2012

Benoît BATTISTELLI

President