A number of European firms, including J A Kemp, reported on Friday that the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation had passed a change to the rules of the EPC relating to the date on which a document is deemed to be delivered. The change will eliminate the 10-day rule, which has been in place since the 1970's.
As the J A Kemp report notes, under the current rules, documents sent by the European Patent Office are deemed to be delivered ten days after the date printed on the document, which was originally intended to account for the time a document would be in transit when correspondence was sent via postal service. The 10-day rule essentially resulted in a 10-day grace period on deadlines. According to J A Kemp, the elimination of the 10-day rule is an attempt to modernize EPC rules in view of the current practices in the digital age.
The elimination of the 10-day rule is set to take effect on November 1, 2023. After that date, documents sent by the EPO will be deemed to be delivered on the date of the document.
While the J A Kemp report notes that there will be safeguard provisions in place that allow for a document to be deemed delivered after the date on the document in certain circumstances, such provisions "will apply only rarely." However, missed deadlines may in some circumstances be remedied by requesting further processing.
For additional information regarding this topic, please see:
• "BREAKING: EPO to abolish the 10 day rule," The IPKat, October 14, 2022
• "EPO announces end of the '10-day rule'," Forresters, October 14, 2022
• "1 November 2023 - the sun will set on the EPO's Ten-Day Rule," WP Thompson, October 14, 2022
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