Chapter IV – Notifications
Rule 126143
Notification by postal services
(1)144 All notifications by postal services shall be by registered letter.145
(2)146 Where notification is effected in accordance with paragraph 1, the document letter shall be deemed to be delivered to the addressee on the tenth day following its handover to the postal service provider date it bears, unless it has failed to reach the addressee. or has reached him at a later date; In in the event of any dispute concerning the delivery of the document, it shall be incumbent on the European Patent Office to establish that the letter document has reached its destination and or to establish the date on which the letter document was delivered to the addressee, as the case may be. If the European Patent Office establishes that the document was delivered to the addressee more than seven days after the date it bears, a period for which the deemed receipt of that document is the relevant event under Rule 131, paragraph 2, shall expire later by the number of days by which the seven days were exceeded.
(3) Notification in accordance with paragraph 1 shall be deemed to have been effected even if acceptance of the letter has been refused.
(4) To the extent that notification by postal services is not covered by paragraphs 1 to 3, the law of the State in which the notification is made shall apply.
143Amended by decision of the Administrative Council CA/D 6/14 of 15.10.2014 (OJ EPO 2015, A17), which entered into force on 01.04.2015.
See notice from the EPO of 30.03.2015 (OJ EPO 2015, A36).
144Amended by decision of the Administrative Council CA/D 2/19 of 28.03.2019 (OJ EPO 2019, A31), which entered into force on 01.11.2019.
See notice from the EPO of 16.06.2019 (OJ EPO 2019, A57).
See decision of the Enlarged Board of Appeal G 1/14 (Annex I).
145See notice from the EPO of 04.09.2014 concerning the use of an address for correspondence (OJ EPO 2014, A99).
146Amended by decision of the Administrative Council CA/D 10/22 of 13.10.2022 (OJ EPO 2022, A101), which entered into force on 01.11.2023.
See notice from the EPO of 25.11.2022 concerning legal changes to support digital transformation in the patent grant procedure (OJ EPO 2022, A114) and of 06.03.2023 concerning amended Rules 126 EPC, Rule 127 EPC and Rule 131 EPC (OJ EPO 2023, A29).
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13.12.2007 - 31.03.2015Decision of the Administrative Council of 07.12.2006 (CA/D 10/06), (OJ EPO 2007, 8 and Special edition 1/2007)01.04.2015 - 31.10.2019CA/D 6/14 (OJ EPO 2015, A17)01.11.2019 - 31.10.2023CA/D 2/19 (OJ EPO 2019, A31)01.11.2023 -CA/D 10/22 (OJ EPO 2022, A101)
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EPC EPC 1973 R. 126 R. 78