2.5 Filing of subsequent documents 

After a European patent application has been filed, the documents referred to in Rule 50 may be filed by delivery by hand, by postal services (see A‑II, 1.2) or by means of electronic communication (see A‑II, 1.1). These include filing electronically by means of EPO Online Filing, Online Filing 2.0, the EPO Contingency Upload Service or, for certain procedural actions, MyEPO Portfolio (see A‑II, 1.1.1). Documents may not be filed by fax (see the decision of the President of the EPO dated 22 April 2024, OJ EPO 2024, A41, and the notice from the EPO dated 22 April 2024, OJ EPO 2024, A42). Priority documents are excluded from filing using the EPO Contingency Upload Service. For the means of filing accepted for priority documents, see A‑III, 6.7.1 and A-III, 6.7.2.

Subsequent documents may not be filed by email or similar means. However, during telephone consultations and during interviews and oral proceedings held by videoconference, documents filed subsequently as referred to in Rule 50, including authorisations, must be filed by email (for more details see the decision of the President of the EPO dated 13 May 2020, OJ EPO 2020, A71; see also E‑III, 8.5.2).