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2.12.2.2 Effect of Hours of Business, Time Zones and Public Holidays

Date Published

The date of filing for documents filed in the Office is the date that the Office receives the document. For paper documents, documents cannot be received outside the hours which the Office is open for business. Documents filed electronically after close of business of the Office, but before midnight (in the time zone of the Office), are entitled to that date as their filing date, provided that transmission is completed before midnight. However, documents received all or in part after midnight will have a later filing date based on the actual date that the whole document was received.

Under sec 222A, if the end of a period for filing a document occurs on a Saturday, Sunday or a day that the Office is not open for business, that period expires on the next day that the Office is open for business. However, if a document is filed on a Sunday, its filing date is Sunday's date, not the date of the previous Friday.

The Office is not open for business on Australia Day and Anzac Day (reg 22.10AB(1)), or any other day that is declared by the Director General or other prescribed person. Under reg 22.10AB(2), the Director General and Deputy Director General are both able to declare such days autonomously. Other Senior Executive Service (SES) employees of IP Australia may also declare such days, however only with the agreement of the Director General, Deputy Director General or another SES employee.

Declarations will be published in the Official Journal and on the What's New and Official Notices pages of the IP Australia website. Canberra (ACT) public holidays are covered by declarations made by the Director General or other prescribed person (as defined above). Note that only ACT public holidays are applicable to the filing of documents with the Office, i.e. public holidays in other states and territories are not relevant.

Note: Where there is conflicting evidence regarding the date of filing a document, the matter should be referred for determination to the Assistant General Manager (OEP). This may occur, for example, where a party has a receipt for filing a document with the Office, but the Office has no document on file and no record of receipt.


Situations Where Section 222A Not Applicable

Section 222A of the Act does not apply to the following actions:

a. an act in relation to proceedings in a court or a tribunal; and

b. an act done under Chapter 20 (Individual Patent Attorneys) of the Regulations.

However, the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 still applies to these matters.

Note: Section 222A does not apply to an act done under the PCT. Note, however, that Rule 80.5(iii) does apply and has a similar effect where public holidays are concerned.

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