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EPO Practice Changes From 1 October: Bulk PACE Requests, MyEPO Timeline and DOCX Version 4, With a Fully Electronic Grant Procedure From April 2027

A monitor on a desk showing a progress timeline with nodes, a stack of documents moving forward along an arrow on the desk and a tray of paper documents beside it, symbolising accelerated prosecution, progress tracking and the shift from paper to electronic filing and notification

The European Patent Office (EPO) used the September 2026 issue of its Official Journal, published on 30 September, to announce a set of procedural and digital changes: a revised PACE programme for accelerated prosecution, a timeline panel in MyEPO and version 4 of the DOCX definition all apply from 1 October 2026, while mandatory electronic filing and electronic notification in the grant procedure will enter into force on 1 April 2027. PACE is confined to the examination phase. A request for a single application must be filed through MyEPO or online using EPO Form 1005, bulk requests must use the dedicated MyEPO feature, and requests made by other means, including on paper, are not processed.

A PACE request may be filed only once per application: if the request is withdrawn, the applicant asks for an extension of time limits, or the application is refused, withdrawn or deemed withdrawn, the application is removed from PACE and a second request will not be processed, and acceleration is suspended if a renewal fee is not paid by the due date.

PACE is free of charge and the EPO makes every effort to issue its next office action within 3 months; early processing of a Euro-PCT application is not a PACE request, which must be filed separately.

The MyEPO timeline shows key procedural events in chronological order, the current stage, the next expected step and indicative dates based on average durations in the relevant technical field; it currently runs to the end of examination and will be extended in later releases, and the EPO states that the information is indicative only and not binding for individual applications.

DOCX version 4 replaces version 3, incorporates ISO/IEC 29500:2016, supports both strict and transitional conformance and adds the Aptos font, without changing the scope and conditions of DOCX filing or requiring users to change their practice.

The change with the longest reach is full digitalisation from 1 April 2027. In proceedings under the European Patent Convention, PCT proceedings and proceedings relating to unitary patents, documents will have to be filed electronically through Online Filing 2.0, MyEPO or similar means, with the EPO Contingency Upload Service as a fallback; documents filed on paper must be refiled electronically within 2 months of an invitation, with exceptions such as certified paper copies, physical objects and submissions by individuals who are not parties.

Notification takes place through MyEPO Mailbox, documents reach their destination on the date on which they are made available in the Mailbox, and no paper copies are sent in parallel. Third-party observations under Article 115 of the Convention may be filed only electronically, and observations on paper will be deemed not to have been filed.

J&C recommends that applicants and firms with European patent applications adjust their internal procedures now: since each application has only one PACE opportunity, decide who authorises a request and when, and avoid extension requests while acceleration is running; use the MyEPO timeline for case management and client communication but keep relying on formal communications for time limits; before 1 April 2027, assign daily monitoring of MyEPO Mailbox, check electronic filing access for every case and move third-party observations to electronic filing.

Source: www.epo.org | www.epo.org | www.epo.org | www.epo.org | www.epo.org

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The content in this section is provided for general reference only and does not constitute legal advice or formal service recommendations. For any specific matter, please consider the particular facts of your case and refer to the latest laws, policies, and practices of the relevant authorities.