Temporary unavailability of online services from 27 December to 30 December 2020 (service no. CR 340189)

Owing to technical maintenance work, the following online services will be temporarily unavailable between 13.00 hrs on 27 December and 13.00 hrs on 30 December 2020 CET:

• Online Fee Payment /payment by credit card
• MyFiles / Mailbox
• European Patent Register
• Espacenet
• Filing of Third-Party Observations by the public
•  Smart card activation
• eTendering

Users should assume that other EPO online services may also be unavailable during this period.

However, the following online services will remain available during that period, namely:

• Online filing
• New online filing (CMS)
• Web-form filing
• Online Filing 2.0
• Filing by fax
• Filing to the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (including PCT-SAFE)
• epo.org - the EPO website will be available, but only with static web-pages and limited functionality. The following parts will not work: interactive features (e.g. search engines), contact forms, file downloads, and the display of electronic tender procedures.

We apologise for any inconvenience.

During the maintenance period our User Services will still offer basic support during business hours. Please be informed that User Services is only reachable by phone during this time.

The days on which the above-mentioned online services will not be available are days on which the Office is closed (see OJ EPO 2019, A97). Therefore any time limits expiring on these days are extended to the first day thereafter on which the Office is open, that is Monday 4 January 2021 (see OJ EPO 2020, A115).

Applicants are reminded of the procedures and safeguards which apply under the EPC and the PCT in case  of unavailability of any filing or fee payment services  (OJ EPO 2020, A120).

Please always quote the reference number indicated above when addressing the EPO in relation to this issue.

11.12.2020, 09:30 h