1.2.1 Filing of applications electronically 

An international application may be filed electronically with the EPO as receiving Office, either online or offline on electronic data carrier ("physical medium").

All documents filed electronically must comply with the requirements set out in Part 7 of the Administrative Instructions under the PCT and Annex F thereof, which sets out the standard for the electronic filing and processing of international applications. 

The EPO offers the following free-of-charge electronic filing tools:

–Online Filing (OLF). Filings using the OLF software may be made online or on electronic data carriers accepted by the EPO. At present, the data carriers accepted are CD-Rs conforming to ISO 9660, DVD-Rs and DVD+Rs.

– Online Filing 2.0 

– EPO Contingency Upload Service 

In addition, applicants may use ePCT, an electronic filing tool offered by WIPO.

The EPO no longer accepts international applications filed with it as receiving Office using the PCT-SAFE filing software. This has been the case since 1 July 2020.

All the means of electronic filing, except for the EPO Contingency Upload Service, allow applicants to fill in the PCT request form (PCT/RO/101) directly in the electronic document formats that are accepted by the EPO as receiving Office.

If the documents making up the international application have been prepared by conversion from a different electronic document format (pre-conversion format), the applicant may submit the documents in that format too, preferably together with a statement that the international application in electronic form is a complete and accurate copy of the documents in pre-conversion format. Each pre-conversion document must be in a format that fulfils the requirements stipulated in OJ EPO 2025, A52 OJ EPO 2024, A88. It is recommended that pre-conversion documents be submitted as ZIP files. The purpose of filing in pre-conversion format is that if an applicant discovers that the relevant part of the international application as filed in electronic form is not a complete and accurate copy of the document submitted in pre-conversion format, they may ask the EPO in its capacity as receiving Office to correct the international application accordingly within 30 months of the priority date.