The EPO may act as a receiving Office when the conditions referred to in Art. 151 apply.

Where the EPO acts as a receiving Office, the provisions of Rule 104(1) and (2) will apply to the international application and its related documents. The following documents must be filed in triplicate with the EPO acting as receiving Office (Rule 104(1)): the request, the description, the claims, the abstract and the drawings. Under current practice, the other documents referred to in Rule 3.3(a)(ii) PCT and listed on the right-hand side of Box VIII of the PCT request form (PCT/RO/101) need only be filed singly with the EPO. The President of the EPO may, however, decide that the international application and any related item be filed in fewer than three copies.

If an international application is filed by facsimile, the hard-copy application documents (in three copies) complying with the Rules and the Request (Form PCT/RO/101) should be forwarded simultaneously and the facsimile should state that such documents have been forwarded. Otherwise, the EPO will invite the applicant to supply such documents within a non-extendable period of one month (see the Decision of the President of the EPO dated 6 December 2004, OJ 1/2005, 41, and the Notice from the EPO dated 6 December 2004, OJ 1/2005, 44). To prevent duplication of files applicants are asked to indicate on the accompanying letter the facsimile date and to make it clear that the paper documents represent "confirmation of an application filed by facsimile".

Rule 104(3) An international application for which the EPO is chosen by the applicant as the receiving Office must be filed directly with the EPO. An exception applies only where the applicant is obliged under the applicable national law of a Contracting State to file the international application concerned via a national authority (see Art. 75(2)). In that case, the national authority acts as intermediary (‘'filing office'') of the EPO as receiving Office and is obliged to ensure that the application reaches the EPO not later than two weeks before the end of the thirteenth month after filing or, if priority is claimed, after the date of priority.

At present only the international application may be filed electronically with the EPO as receiving Office, but no further document like priority documents etc. The technical documents (description, claims and drawings) relating to an international application may be attached in XML or PDF-format (Notice from the EPO dated 3 December 2003, OJ EPO 12/2003, 609; Notice dated 3 December 2003, OJ EPO 12/2003, 610).

The initial processing and formal examination of international applications are carried out by the receiving Office and the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in accordance with the provisions of the PCT. When the EPO is acting as a receiving Office, EPO employees will work in accordance with the PCT Receiving Office Guidelines (see special issue of the PCT Gazette No. S-03/2004, dated 17.06.2004 superseding Special Issue No. S-02/2002 dated 31.01.2002).

With regard to deadlines and procedural steps before the EPO as a receiving Office, see the Guide for applicants: "How to get a European patent, Part 2: PCT procedure before the EPO - Euro-PCT", April 2002. A new edition will be published soon. Fundamental changes of the Regulations under the PCT effecting the processing in the international phase entered into force on 1 January 2004. In the new edition only the new procedure, applicable to applications with a filing date on or after 1 January 2004, will be set out. The edition of April 2002, insofar the former procedure in general is set out therein, is still useful for applications with a filing date before 1 January 2004. For applications concerning nucleotide or amino acid sequences, see A-VII, 4.2 and Supplement No. 2 to OJ 11/1998.