Changes to Online Filing 2.0 and electronic file system
The Administrative Council has approved measures to bring the EPO to a more sustainable data storage model, following proposals endorsed by the SACEPO Working Party on Rules last October. One measure sets the duration for data storage within Online Filing 2.0 to five years as of 1 April 2026. Users therefore have two years in which to plan how they wish to store or export older records. A second measure will see the deletion of superfluous electronic copies of documents received via some of our filing systems. Taken together these measures should substantially improve the EPO’s environmental impact, at a time when many organisations are reviewing and updating their data storage policies.
This time limit for data storage in Online Filing 2.0 is explained in a Notice published today in the Official Journal. A Decision of the President, also published today, concerns the rules applicable to the creation, maintenance and preservation of files, thereby superseding the previous decision of 2007 in relation to the now obsolete PHOENIX electronic file system.
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