INFORMATION FROM THE EPO
Enclosure of a standard acknowledgement of receipt (EPO Form 2936) in the case of notifications by registered letter with advice of delivery
1. The acknowledgement of receipt recommended in OJ EPO 1984, 325 for summonses is not being used as often as was expected, and the main points of the previous notice are therefore reprinted below.
(a) Summonses to oral proceedings or to the taking of evidence by the European Patent Office are notified by registered letter with advice of delivery (Article 119 and Rule 78(1) EPC).
(b) As a result of differing delivery regulations in the individual Contracting States, advices of delivery are often either not returned to the European Patent Office at all or else returned without being completed at the receiving end. Subsequent investigations by the Post Office take an inordinately long time.
(c) This causes considerable difficulties in the case of summonses to oral proceedings or the taking of evidence by the European Patent Office. Because of the prescribed period of advance notice (Rules 71(1) and 72(2) EPC), the European Patent Office is then itself obliged to find out from the addressee whether the summons was notified on time. If not, his agreement has to be sought to a shorter period of notice and if this agreement is not forthcoming, the oral proceedings or taking of evidence have to be cancelled at short notice.
(d) To avoid these difficulties, the European Patent Office encloses with summonses a standard acknowledgement of receipt in the form of a white card (EPO Form 2936), in addition to the advice of delivery. The recipient is asked to acknowledge receipt and return the acknowledgement to the European Patent Office by return of post. Since it is in the interests of all those who receive summonses that oral proceedings or taking of evidence once arranged should duly take place, it is hoped that those concerned will comply with this request.
2. As the same problem occurs in the case of other notifications by registered letter with advice of delivery (e.g. decisions to refuse a European patent application - Article 97(1) EPC), the European Patent Office will in future as a matter of course enclose an acknowledgement of receipt (EPO Form 2936) with all such notifications, requesting the addressee to return it by return of post.