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Chapter IV – Notifications

Overview

Rule 127162
Notification by means of electronic communication

(1)163 Notification may be effected by means of electronic communication as determined by the President of the European Patent Office and under the conditions laid down by him the President of the European Patent Office.

(2)164 Where notification is effected by means of electronic communication, the electronic document shall be deemed to be delivered to the addressee on the tenth day following its transmission date it bears, unless it has failed to reach its destination. or has reached its destination at a later date; In in the event of any dispute concerning the delivery of the electronic document, it shall be incumbent on the European Patent Office to establish that the electronic document has reached its destination or and to establish the date on which it reached its destination, as the case may be. If the European Patent Office establishes that the electronic document has reached its destination 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.

162Amended 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).
See decision of the President of the EPO: of 11.03.2015 concerning the pilot project to introduce new means of electronic communication in EPO proceedings (OJ EPO 2015, A28; re amendments see OJ EPO 2024, A43),

163See decision of the President of the EPO of 25.03.2026 concerning the web‑based service MyEPO and electronic notification to the Mailbox in proceedings under the EPC and the PCT (OJ EPO 2026, A20) and decision of the President of the EPO of 09.02.2024 concerning the same services in proceedings related to European patents with unitary effect (OJ EPO 2024, A19).
See decision of the President of the EPO of 22.04.2026 (OJ EPO 2026, A28) and notice of the EPO of the same date (OJ EPO 2026, A29) concerning electronic notification using ePCT.
See notice of the President of the Boards of Appeal of 27.10.2025 concerning the electronic notification via the EPO Mailbox in proceedings before the Enlarged Board of Appeal, the Legal Board of Appeal and the Technical Boards of Appeal (OJ EPO 2025, A67).

164Amended 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, 127 and 131 EPC (OJ EPO 2023, A29).

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  • EPC EPC 1973
    R. 127-