European Patent Convention
Rule 125
General provisions

(1)The European Patent Office shall, as a matter of course, notify those concerned of decisions and summonses, and of any notice or other communication from which a time limit is reckoned, or of which those concerned must be notified under the Convention, or of which notification has been ordered by the President of the European Patent Office. Any notification to be made shall take the form of the original document, a copy thereof certified by or bearing the seal of the European Patent Office, a computer print-out bearing such seal or an electronic document containing such seal or otherwise certified. Copies of documents emanating from the parties themselves shall not require such certification.

(2)Notification shall be made:

(a)by postal services in accordance with Rule 126;

(b)by means of electronic communication in accordance with Rule 127;

(c)by delivery on the premises of the European Patent Office in accordance with Rule 128; or

(d)by public notice in accordance with Rule 129.

(3)Notification through the central industrial property office of a Contracting State shall be made in accordance with the law applicable to that office in national proceedings.

(4)Where a document has reached the addressee, if the European Patent Office is unable to prove that it has been duly notified, or if provisions relating to its notification have not been observed, the document shall be deemed to have been notified on the date established by the European Patent Office as the date of receipt.

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