GL A II 1.2.2 Filing of applications in electronic form

European patent applications and international (PCT) applications may also be filed with the EPO in electronic form (see the Decision of the President of the EPO dated 9 May 2018, OJ EPO 2018, A45) using either

(i)EPO Online Filing (OLF), by packaging and submitting the documents using the software provided by the EPO (see the Decision of the President of the EPO dated 21 September 2020, OJ EPO 2020, A105), unless the use of other software is permitted. Filings using OLF may be made online or on electronic data carriers accepted by the EPO. At present, the data carriers permitted are CD-R as per ISO 9660 and DVD-R or DVD+R (see the Decision of the President of the EPO dated 12 July 2007, Special edition No. 3, OJ EPO 2007, A.5);

(ii)the EPO case management system (CMS); or

(iii)the EPO Web-Form Filing service.

Other documents may also be filed electronically in proceedings under the EPC (see the Decisions of the President of the EPO dated 9 May 2018, OJ EPO 2018, A45, and 15 November 2018, OJ EPO 2018, A93).

European patent applications may also be filed in electronic form with the competent national authorities of those contracting states which so permit.

Source: http://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/html/guidelines/e/a_ii_1_2_2.htm

Date retrieved: 17 May 2021