Rule 6

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1. [Indications Accompanying Signature of Communications on Paper] Any Contracting Party may require that the signature of the natural person who signs be accompanied by
(i) an indication in letters of the family or principal name and the given or secondary name or names of that person or, at the option of that person, of the name or names customarily used by the said person;
(ii) an indication of the capacity in which that person signed, where such capacity is not obvious from reading the communication.
 

2. [Date of Signing] Any Contracting Party may require that a signature be accompanied by an indication of the date on which the signing was effected. Where that indication is required but is not supplied, the date on which the signing is deemed to have been effected shall be the date on which the communication bearing the signature was received by the Office or, if the Contracting Party so allows, a date earlier than the latter date.

3. [Signature of Communications on Paper] Where a communication to the Office of a Contracting Party is on paper and a signature is required, that Contracting Party
(i) shall, subject to item (iii), accept a handwritten signature;
(ii) may permit, instead of a handwritten signature, the use of other forms of signature, such as a printed or stamped signature, or the use of a seal or of a bar-coded label;
(iii) may, where the natural person who signs the communication is a national of the Contracting Party and such person’s address is on its territory, or where the legal entity on behalf of which the communication is signed is organized under its law and has either a domicile or a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment on its territory, require that a seal be used instead of a handwritten signature.
 

4. [Signature of Communications on Paper Filed by Electronic Means of Transmittal] A Contracting Party that provides for communications on paper to be filed by electronic means of transmittal shall consider any such communication signed if a graphic representation of a signature accepted by that Contracting Party under paragraph (3) appears on the communication as received.

5. [Original of a Communication on Paper Filed by Electronic Means of Transmittal] A Contracting Party that provides for communications on paper to be filed by electronic means of transmittal may require that the original of any such communication be filed
(i) with the Office accompanied by a letter identifying that earlier transmission and
(ii) within a time limit which shall be at least one month from the date on which the Office received the communication by electronic means of transmittal.
 

6. [Authentication of Communications in Electronic Form] A Contracting Party that permits the filing of communications in electronic form may require that any such communication be authenticated through a system of electronic authentication as prescribed by that Contracting Party.

7. [Date of Receipt] Each Contracting Party shall be free to determine the circumstances in which the receipt of a document or the payment of a fee shall be deemed to constitute receipt by or payment to the Office in cases in which the document was actually received by or payment was actually made to
(i) a branch or sub-office of the Office,
(ii) a national Office on behalf of the Office of the Contracting Party, where the Contracting Party is an intergovernmental organization referred to in Article 26(1)(ii),
(iii) an official postal service,
(iv) a delivery service, or an agency, specified by the Contracting Party,
(v) an address other than the nominated addresses of the Office.
 

8. [Electronic Filing] Subject to paragraph (7), where a Contracting Party provides for the filing of a communication in electronic form or by electronic means of transmittal and the communication is so filed, the date on which the Office of that Contracting Party receives the communication in such form or by such means shall constitute the date of receipt of the communication.