Article 66

EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE

Information from the EPO

Notice from the European Patent Office dated 14 November 2025 concerning the filing of sequence listings

1. With the decommissioning of the EPO's desktop-based Online Filing tool on 31 December 2025,1 the possibility of using it to file European or international (PCT) applications on CD-ROM or DVD will cease to exist. However, sequence listings having a data size exceeding the upload limit in the current filing tools will still have to be submitted on a data carrier. This option is also retained for sequence listings filed as part of a paper submission. The decision of the President of the European Patent Office on the filing of sequence listings has been updated to reflect these developments.2

2. As of 1 January 2026, WIPO Standard ST.26 sequence listings may be filed online using Online Filing 2.0, the EPO Contingency Upload Service or, where applicable, ePCT or MyEPO. Within MyEPO,3 files containing standard-compliant sequence listings may be uploaded in a ZIP file when performing any of the permitted procedural acts and requests.4

3. For XML sequence listings that exceed the maximum upload size setting in the above electronic filing tools (currently 50 MB) and for XML sequence listings submitted with applications or other documents filed on paper, applicants and patent proprietors have the additional option of submitting sequence listings on an accepted data carrier, i.e. CD-R, DVD-R and DVD+R discs and USB flash drives. Such data carriers must be readable without any loss of information and free of any computer virus or other harmful software.

4. For further information regarding the filing and processing of sequence listings, see the notices from the European Patent Office dated 9 December 2021,5 27 May 20226 and 28 September 2023.7