Further to the decision dated 26 February 2009 concerning the electronic filing of documents 1, and having regard to Rule 2 EPC and Rule 89bis.1 and 2 PCT, the President of the European Patent Office has decided as follows:

Article 1 Software to be used for electronic filing

(1) Electronic filings in accordance with Article 5 of the above-mentioned decision dated 26 February 2009 shall be made using version 4 (build 4.228) or later releases of the EPO Online Filing software.

(2) Once this decision has entered into force, electronic filings using releases earlier than eOLF version 4 (build 4.228) will no longer be accepted by the Office's receiving server.

Article 2 International (PCT) applications

Article 1(2) shall not apply to international (PCT) applications filed in electronic form with the European Patent Office as receiv- ing Office under the PCT. Such applications prepared and filed using PCT-SAFE or releases of the EPO Online Filing software earlier than version 4 (build 4.228) will be accepted by the Office's receiving server.

Article 3 Previous decisions superseded

When this decision enters into force, the decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 23 January 2008 concerning the EPO Online Filing software to be used for the electronic filing of patent applications and other documents (OJ EPO 2008, 218) shall cease to have effect.

1 See OJ EPO 2009, 182.

Article 4 Entry into force

This decision shall enter into force on 1 October 2009.

Done at Munich, 5 March 2009

Alison BRIMELOW President

References: r2; r_89bis_pct;