1. General 

At the request of the competent national court hearing an infringement or revocation action and for an appropriate fee, the EPO is obliged to give a technical opinion on the European patent which is the subject of the action. The examining divisions are responsible for issuing such opinions.

Only requests from a national court in a contracting state will be accepted by the EPO. However, it is not up to the EPO to check whether or not the requesting court is "competent" to deal with the action. Nevertheless, the examining division does check whether a European patent is the "subject of the action".

The examining division responsible for the technical opinion gives the parties an opportunity to submit arguments in writing if the court so permits. However, the parties have no right to be heard before the EPO. Nevertheless, where the examining division considers it necessary, it may invite the parties, via the court and if the court so permits, either to be heard before the examining division or to submit supplementary observations on specific points identified by it. If the parties are heard, the hearing is not considered to be oral proceedings within the meaning of Art. 116.

The technical opinion is not a decision of the EPO. The parties to the national proceedings therefore have no right of appeal before the EPO against an unfavourable opinion.