INFORMATION FROM THE EPO
Decisions of the President of the EPO
Decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 14 May 1998 concerning phased implementation and use of the PHOENIX* electronic file system for the creation, maintenance, preservation and inspection of files
The President of the European Patent Office,
Having regard to Rules 95a(3) and 94(1) EPC,
Has decided as follows:
Article 1
PHOENIX electronic file system
Files relating to European patent applications, and to international applications for which the European Patent Office (EPO) acts under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), shall progressively be created, maintained and processed in electronic form using the EPO's electronic file system, PHOENIX1.
Article 2
File inspection
(1) Inspection of PHOENIX files shall be of print-outs of the electronic file2.
(2) Inspection of items which cannot be scanned shall be of the items as filed.
(3) Certified copies of the European patent application pursuant to Rule 94(4) EPC shall be issued from the electronic file.
Article 3
Preservation of electronic files and of original documents
(1) The electronic files created pursuant to Article 1 shall be stored on two different electronic media for the entire period under Rule 95a(1) and (2) EPC or Rule 93.1 and 93.3 PCT, as applicable.
(2) The original documents, whether making up the application or subsequently filed, shall be preserved until further notice.
Article 4
Entry into force
This decision shall enter into force on 18 May 1998.
Done at Munich, 14 May 1998
Ingo Kober
President
* A Notice from the European Patent Office concerning the PHOENIX electronic file system will be published in one of the next issues of the EPO Official Journal.
1 Please note that the requirement to file European patent applications, international applications and subsequent documents in three copies (Rules 35(2), 36(1) and 104(1) EPC and Rule 11.1(b) PCT) remains unaffected.
2 The EPO also intends to make file inspection possible via PHOENIX workstations. Details will be published in due course.