The European Patent Office will abolish the “10-day” rule

The European Patent Office recently announced that it will abolish the “10-day” rule starting from November 1, 2023.

Article 126(2) of the European Patent Convention involves the "10-day" rule, that is, the registered letter will be delivered by default on the tenth day after it is sent. This rule was introduced in the 1970s and is still in use today, mainly for official notifications sent by registered mail. According to this regulation, the deadline begins on the 10th day from the date of issuance. For example, if a four-month deadline is issued on January 1, 2022, then four months will be calculated from January 11, 2022, that is, the deadline will be May 11, 2022.

The original intention of establishing this rule is to avoid the impact of delays in mailing services. It mainly involves: notices to correct form errors, notices to pay claim surcharges, and official notices related to rules 161, 162, 94(3), etc. . In addition, this rule also applies to official notices related to appeal proceedings.

However, with the comprehensive promotion of paperless in the EPO, all EPO documents have been completely electronic. Under this circumstance, the EPO has made the decision to abolish the "ten-day" rule, and the official document date will be regarded as Delivery date.

The abolition of this rule will have a considerable impact on the majority of patent agencies and applicants. After losing 10 days, agencies will have only a more limited time to transmit to applicants, and there will be a large number of delays in transmitting documents. The agency needs to improve.

At present, the European Patent Office has not yet issued relevant transitional measures for this rule change. We will continue to pay attention to the page number and remind everyone.

(Editor: Corresponding to the 10-day rule of the European Patent Office, Chinese patents also have a similar 15-day rule. With the abolition of the 10-day rule of the European Patent Office, we will wait and see whether Chinese patents will also change accordingly)