EPO abolishes 10-day rule

Düsseldorf, October 31, 2023 – From November 1, 2023, the European Patent Office (EPO) will abolish its 10-day rule. This means that documents will be deemed to have been received on the day they are dated.

Before now, any EPO communication was deemed to have been received ten days after the date shown on it. This also influenced, for example, deadlines that were set after the receipt of a communication: under the previous EPO rule, these deadlines did not start until ten days after the date of the communication. This rule will no longer apply from November 1, 2023.

In the event that a document is received more than seven days after the date shown on it, a protective clause will apply, extending the deadline by the number of days more than
seven. The burden will remain on the EPO to establish when the document was received.

The abolition of the 10-day rule is part of the EPO’s digital transformation and concerns Rules 126 (2), 127 (2), and 131 (2) EPC. With the change, the EPO is responding to the increasing use of electronic communication, which makes delays unlikely.

“We have been familiar with the new EPO rules for months and were therefore able to adapt our work with our clients to the rules in good time,” said Andreas Thielmann, patent attorney and partner at Cohausz & Florack.

>> To the details of the amended Rules 126, 127, and 131 EPC

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