4. External complaints 

External complaints can be made about any of the EPO's services or products and can be submitted by any person, including parties to proceedings before the EPO (for enquiries about the processing of files, see E‑VIII, 7). Complaints can be submitted using the online form available at epo.org/en/formal-complaint.

Complaints are forwarded to a dedicated EPO department responsible for:

(i)ensuring that the complaint is dealt with fairly and efficiently and that suitable measures are taken to address it and 

(ii)providing the complaint with a detailed reply. 

The complaint handling procedure does not replace the procedures laid down by the EPC; nor does the department responsible for handling complaints take decisions on procedural requests. It is therefore the competent department dealing with specific pending proceedings that decides on:

(a)complaints submitted by a party to those proceedings about procedural and/or substantive issues arising in the proceedings. All parties to the proceedings will be informed accordingly. 

(b)complaints submitted by a third party in relation to substantive issues while proceedings are pending before the EPO. Such a complaint will be treated as a third-party observation (see E‑VI, 3).

The department responsible for handling complaints promptly forwards any complaint relating to appeal proceedings to the EPO Boards of Appeal Unit.