Representatives acting before the EPO in Unitary Patent proceedings must, on request, file a signed authorisation within a period to be specified by the EPO. The time limit cannot be extended (see 8.6.17.5.1). If the authorisation is not filed in time, any procedural steps taken by the representative, including the procedural act of requesting unitary effect, will be deemed not taken (Rule 20(2)(l) UPR in conjunction with Rule 152(6) EPC, which applies mutatis mutandis pursuant to Rule 20(2)(l) UPR).
Professional representatives and legal practitioners entitled to act as representatives under Rule 20(1) UPR in conjunction with Art. 134(8) EPC will be required to file a signed authorisation only in certain circumstances, in particular if there is a change of representative and the previous representative has not explicitly withdrawn from representation or if there is any doubt as to the representative's entitlement to act (see the decision of the President of the EPO dated 8 July 20247 July 2025 (OJ EPO 2024, A76OJ EPO 2025, A46), and the notice from the EPO dated 8 July 2024 (OJ EPO 2024, A77) and the notice from the EPO dated 7 July 2025 (OJ EPO 2025, A47)). Therefore, ifIf an authorisation is required under that decision, it needs to cover proceedings relating to the Unitary Patent.
Representatives may be authorised either by an individual authorisation or by a general authorisation. An authorisation given for European patent proceedings does not extend to Unitary Patent proceedings unless this is indicated by selecting the corresponding box on EPO Form 1003 (individual authorisation) or EPO Form 1004 (general authorisation) (see EPC Guidelines, A‑VIII, 1.8 1.7). Alternatively, EPO Forms 7003 and 7004, which provide, respectively, for an individual and a general authorisation with respect only to Unitary Patent proceedings, can be used. When filing the request for unitary effect (EPO Form 7000, see 2.2), it is possible simply to refer to a previously filed copy of an authorisation if it also covers Unitary Patent proceedings.
General authorisations for professional representatives and legal practitioners are not registered by the EPO (see the decision of the President of the EPO dated 7 July 2025 (OJ EPO 2025, A46) and the notice from the EPO dated 7 July 2025 (OJ EPO 2025, A47)). These groups of representatives are no longer required to refer to a previously registered general authorisation's registration number. Professional representatives and legal practitioners acting under a general authorisation can file an electronic copy of it in the proceedings using one of the EPO's permitted means of electronic filing (see EPC Guidelines, A‑VIII, 1.8).
The Legal Division registers general authorisations for employees (see the decision of the President of the EPO dated 7 July 2025 (OJ EPO 2025, A46) and the notice from the EPO dated 7 July 2025 (OJ EPO 2025, A47)), who may file an individual authorisation or refer to the general authorisation's registration number (see EPC Guidelines, A‑VIII, 1.8).
If one of the proprietors is obliged to appoint a professional representative, that representative will be deemed to be the common representative (see 7.2.48.2.4) unless the proprietor first named in the request has already appointed a professional representative. In eitherthat case, the authorisation does not need to be signed by all proprietors.
Authorisations may be filed electronically via EPO Online Filing,Online Filing 2.0 and the EPO Contingency Upload Service or on paper (see EPC Guidelines, A‑VIII, 2.5). Authorisations may bear handwritten, facsimile or text-string signatures (see EPC Guidelines, A‑VIII, 3.3), or digital signatures under the conditions specified by the decision of the President dated 8 July 2024 (OJ EPO 2024, A76) and the notice from the EPO dated 8 July 2024 (OJ EPO 2024, A77). Where a digital signature is used, the authorisation must be filed electronically.