2.6.1 Process of a consultation using the Shared area

If the examiner intends to initiate a consultation using the Shared area, they must first ask the applicant if they are a MyEPO user. If not, the examiner may refer them to the dedicated EPO website. An applicant who is not an MyEPO user cannot use the Shared area during the consultation unless they register as a user in the period before the consultation. The applicant may decline to use the Shared area, in which case other ways of working on a document, such as screen sharing, can be used.

The process of using the Shared area during a consultation is therefore initiated by a prior contact, either at the instigation of the examiner or the applicant, to schedule a consultation, to mutually agree on the use of the Shared area and on who will upload the document to be discussed. As a preparation for the consultation, the applicant or the examiner may upload and edit a .docx or .pdf document in advance. This replaces sending the proposed amendments by email prior to the consultation. The applicant and the examiner can and indeed are actively encouraged to use the Notification function in the Shared area to inform each other when a document has been uploaded or edited there.

Any user who is authorised to access the application in MyEPO may edit a shared document. If the shared document already comprises amendments by the applicant, the examiner must ask during the consultation if the documents as amended are to serve as a basis for the consultation.

Consultation may involve co-editing with the aim of reaching an agreement. If an agreement is reached, the applicant will normally respond to the minutes of the consultation (C‑VII, 2.6.2) by officially submitting the amended application documents via the EPO's online filing tools, or if the applicant so wishes, they may download the edited document and submit it by email during the consultation, in which case it will be treated as an officially filed application document (C‑VII, 3). Alternatively, the examiner may propose the agreed amendments in a subsequent communication under Rule 71(3) (see C‑V, 1.1).

Consultations relating to amendments agreed immediately prior to completing the Rule 71(3) communication may be reflected in that communication either by citing the relevant parts of the agreed amendments from the Shared area or, subject to the applicant's explicit agreement, by annexing the corresponding parts of the document from the Shared area to the communication.