With effect from 1 June 2021, the Boards of Appeal will begin to notify documents in appeal proceedings electronically via the EPO Mailbox. Thus, all communications, summonses and decisions relating to appeal proceedings before the Technical Boards of Appeal and the Legal Board of Appeal will be notified electronically via the Mailbox, where the addressee has activated this service. A list of the relevant documents is available at www.epo.org/applying/online-services/mailbox/updates.html.

The EPO Mailbox, which is already in use for the electronic notification of a range of documents in proceedings before the EPO, clearly displays the type of document received by a party as well as its date of transmission and receipt. An integrated, configurable folder system facilitates file management.

An electronic document is deemed to be notified on the tenth day after its transmission to the addresseeʹs Mailbox (Rule 127(2) EPC), as is the case for postal notification (Rule 126(2) EPC).

Details of how to request registration for the Mailbox and a tutorial on how to use it are available at www.epo.org/applying/online-services/mailbox.html.

Carl JOSEFSSON

President of the Boards of Appeal