Quick Navigation
For the sufficient disclosure of an invention which involves the use of or concerns biological material which is not available to the public and which cannot be described in the application in an enabling manner for the skilled person, specific requirements must be met on the international filing date (see point 146). If any of these requirements was not met within the applicable time limit, no remedy is available before the EPO as designated/elected Office upon entry into the European phase. Extensive information is provided in the Notice from the EPO dated 7 July 2010.
OJ 2010, 506
If on filing the international application a reference to the deposit of biological material complying with Rule 31 EPC was made but no proof of the deposit in the form of a copy of the receipt issued by the depositary institution was submitted, the applicant is strongly advised to do so upon entry into the European phase.
If the Euro-PCT application was not published by the IB in an official language of the EPO, the biological material referred to in the application will be available upon request to any person (only) from the date of publication of the translation by the EPO. In this case, if the applicant files the statement under Rule 32(1) EPC before the technical preparations for publication of the translation by the EPO are completed, the biological material concerned will be made available only by the issue of a sample to an expert nominated by the requester.