INFORMATION FROM THE EPO
List of holidays observed by EPO filing offices and the national patent authorities in 1998
1. Under Rule 85(1) EPC time limits expiring on a day on which at least one of the filing offices of the EPO is not open for receipt of documents are extended until the first day thereafter on which all the filing offices are open for receipt of documents (see also the Notice from the President of the EPO dated 6 October 1997, OJ EPO 1997, 537).
2. Under Rule 85(3) EPC the provisions of Rule 85(1) EPC apply also to time limits provided for in the EPC within which transactions are carried out with the central industrial property office or other competent authority of the contracting state.
3. The following table indicates the days on which the EPO and the central industrial property offices or the other competent authorities are not open for receipt of documents relating to European patent applications. The Netherlands are not included in this table since European patent applications and related documents have to be filed directly with the Receiving Office of the EPO at The Hague.
4. It is expected that the competent national authorities will fix, during 1998, further days on which the patent authorities of the contracting states are closed. Attention should therefore be paid to corresponding notices in the relevant national publications.
The embedded tables within this article are for technical reasons only available in the PDF version of this article.
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1 In the case of the Berlin Annex of the German Patent Office, only the asterisked days apply.
2 Filing office in Munich closed.
3 Filing offices in Berlin and Munich closed.
4 Filing office at The Hague closed.
5 Filing offices in Munich and The Hague closed.
6 Saturday.
7 Sunday.
8 The United Kingdom Patent Office is open until 13.00 hrs on Saturdays for receipt of European patent applications for which no priority is claimed, except on 11 April 1998 and 26 December 1998.
9 Only in Rome.
10 Only in Madrid.
11 The Spanish Patent Office is open until 14.00 hrs on Saturdays.
12 Applies to the branch office in Strasbourg only.
13 Bridging days.