🔍 New EPO Guidelines 2025 – What You Need to Know

Anastasiia Kravtcova

Antti Pörhönen

6.5.2025

Reading time: 1 min

Our patent experts Anastasiia Kravtcova and Antti Pörhönen are starting a short series breaking down the most important updates in the EPO Guidelines for Examination 2025 — focusing on practical changes that affect everyday EPO’s patent practice. Whether you're in-house, private practice, or just EPO-curious, these posts aim to keep you sharp and compliant.

📌 First up: Filing, Signatures & Authorisations – What’s New in 2025?

What changed:

Traditional channels like fax and web-forms are being discontinued in line with the EPO’s digital transformation. Applicants are encouraged to use MyEPO Portfolio and Online Filing 2.0 for secure, digital filings and communications with the EPO. This change has been addressed in many relevant parts of the Guidelines 2025.

Authorisations may bear handwritten, facsimile, or text-string signatures, or digital signatures under the conditions specified by the EPO. Where a digital signature is used, the authorisation must be filed electronically.
🔗 Ref: AVIII, 1.6

An enhanced electronic signature is an electronic signature applied using two-factor authentication and accepted by the EPO.
🔗 Ref: AVIII, 3.3

💡 Why it matters:
These changes modernize procedural tools but raise the technical expectations—especially around the correct use of digital signatures. Using outdated methods like fax, or submitting a digitally signed authorisation via post, can now lead to rejections.

✅ What to watch out for or do differently:
✔ Migrate to MyEPO Portfolio for electronic interactions during your proceedings.
✔ Make sure digitally signed authorisations are filed electronically, not on paper.
✔ Ensure your digital signature tool meets the EPO’s two-factor (enhanced) criteria.