Representatives acting before the EPO must on request file a signed authorisation (see IX, 3.2) within a period to be specified by the EPO. If the requirements of Art. 133(2) are not fulfilled, the same period will be specified for the communication of the appointment and, where applicable, for the filing of the authorisation. Professional representatives who identify themselves as such will be required to file a signed authorisation only in certain cases (see the Decision of the President of the EPO, OJ 9/1991, 489). However, a legal practitioner entitled to act as a professional representative in accordance with Art. 134(7) or an employee acting for an applicant in accordance with Art. 133(3), first sentence, but who is not a professional representative, must file a signed authorisation; in Euro-PCT proceedings, persons representing clients in these capacities are not required to file signed authorisations if they have already filed an authorisation expressly covering proceedings established by the EPC with the EPO as receiving Office.

The authorisation can also be filed by the applicant. This also applies where the applicant is obliged to be represented, as fulfilling the requirement to be represented is not itself a procedural step under Art. 133(2) to which the rule of obligatory representation applies.

An authorisation remains in force until its termination is communicated to the EPO. The authorisation will not terminate upon the death of the person who gave it unless the authorisation provides to the contrary.