How can an application be filed with the EPO direct or by post?
In principle, the date of filing accorded to an application filed with the EPO direct or by post is the date of handing over or receipt respectively at an EPO filing office. Automated mailboxes are installed in Munich ("Zollstrasse") and Berlin next to the EPO building. These automated mailboxes may be used at any time. The automated mailbox at EPO headquarters in Munich (Isar building, Kohlstrasse) has been closed since 1 April 2017. Outside office hours, at all filing offices, documents may be handed to the porter, who will security-scan them on receipt.
OJ 2007, Spec.Ed.3, A.1, A.2
OJ 2010, 642
If the applicant has chosen the EPO as receiving Office the international application should be sent directly to one of the EPO filing offices and not to a national patent office (see point 2.1.002).
The EPO has filing offices in Munich, The Hague and Berlin. Please note that the sub-office in Vienna is not a filing office, nor is the Brussels Bureau. The EPO’s addresses are available on the EPO website.[ 16 ]
OJ 2007, Spec.Ed.3, A.1, A.2
The national law of an EPC contracting state may prescribe that an international application is to be filed with the EPO as receiving Office via its national patent office. Only in that case may the application be filed with the EPO as receiving Office via the national patent office of the EPC contracting state concerned.
PCT Newsletter 6/2014, 11
If, pursuant to national law, the international application must be filed with the EPO as receiving Office via the competent national patent office, this office will only be acting as a "filing office" for the EPO and not as receiving Office. The date of receipt of the application by the national patent office concerned, on behalf of the EPO as receiving Office, will be considered the international filing date, on condition that the application meets the PCT requirements for a filing date to be accorded.
The addresses of the national patent authorities of the EPC contracting states and information on national legislation are provided in the brochure "National law relating to the EPC".[ 17 ]
WIPO PCT Guide 5.010, 5.179
The documents constituting an international application must be filed in only one copy with the EPO as receiving Office: PCT request form, description, claims, abstract and drawings (Box No. IX PCT request form). The same applies to any other documents referred to in Rule 3.3(a)(ii) PCT and listed in Box No. IX of the PCT request form.
Source: http://www.epo.org/applying/international/guide-for-applicants/html/e/ga_c2_2_6.html
Date retrieved: 17 May 2021