The following deficiencies fall into this category:

The following deficiencies fall into this category:

The notice of opposition must be forwarded directly to the formalities officer, who then places it in the electronic file of the European patent concerned in accordance with the relevant administrative instructions and communicates it without delay to the patent proprietor for information. If a notice of opposition is received prior to the publication of the mention of the grant of the European patent, the formalities officer informs the senders that their document cannot be treated as an opposition.

1. Examination for deficiencies in the notice of opposition and communications from the formalities officer arising from this examination

2. Activity of the opposition division

3. Rejection of the opposition as inadmissible by the opposition division, the patent proprietor not being a party

A written reasoned statement of the grounds for opposition must be filed within the opposition period.[Art. 99(1); Rule 76(1); ]

Opposition may only be filed on the grounds that:[Art. 100; ]