Parties with a legitimate interest may ask the boards of appeal to deal with their appeals rapidly. The boards can speed up an appeal as far as the procedural regulations allow. Requests for accelerated processing must be submitted to the competent board either at the beginning of or during proceedings. They must contain reasons for the urgency together with relevant documents. This option is also available to the courts and competent authorities of the contracting states (see the Notice from the Vice-President Directorate-General 3 dated 17 March 2008, OJ EPO 2008, 220).