Deadline Approaches For The EPO's "10-Day Rule"

The "10-day" rule, which determines how the response deadlines to certain European Patent Office (EPO) communications are calculated, is to be abandoned from 1 November 2023.

This will make the calculation of EPO response deadlines more straightforward but care will need to be taken during a transitional period when the old and new time-limit calculation rules will co-exist.

What is the 10-day rule?

The "10-day"rule that is currently in force is a notification fiction in which a document is deemed to have been delivered 10 days after the date on the document. The deadline in the communication in question then runs from the adjusted/deemed date of delivery.

Example: For instance, if an examination report with a 4 month deadline issued on 1 March 2023 then, under the current rules, the EPO deemed it delivered on 11 March such that the deadline fell on 11 July (instead of 1 July).