Since 1 November 2023, the European Patent Office (EPO) has abolished the so-called “ten-day rule”. According to that rule, a letter sent by the EPO was deemed to be delivered ten days after its date, which allowed the deadline for reply to be extended by ten days.
As of 1 November, however, the date indicated on the letter is considered the delivery date and thus there is no longer a 10-day grace period for reply deadlines. This 10-day grace period was still sometimes relied upon in order to be able to submit a reply on time, but the abolition of the rule means that this is no longer possible!
