If documents are filed electronically using EPO Online Filing, the signature may take the form of a facsimile signature, a text-string signature or an enhanced electronic signature. Where documents are filed using Online Filing 2.0 or the EPO Contingency Upload Service, the signature may take the form of a facsimile signature or a text-string signature.
Submissions made in MyEPO Portfolio require a signature in the form of a text-string signature (see the decision of the president of the EPO dated 9 February 2024 (OJ EPO 2024, A20)). Currently, only those documents specified in the notice from the EPO dated 9 February 2024 (OJ EPO 2024, A21) or in another suitable form may be filed using this service.
Handwritten signatures are accepted if a document is filed on paper.
For signature requirements on authorisations, see 7.2.58.2.4.
For the signature requirements on assignment documents and licence contracts applicable to contracts and declarations filed with requests for registration of licences and other rights in Unitary Patent proceedings, see 6 7 and the decision of the President dated 9 February 2024 and the notice from the EPO of the same date (OJ EPO 2024, A17, A18 and A22).
For more details about the types of signatures that are accepted, see EPC Guidelines, A‑VIII, 3.3.