Rule 9

1. [Indications Accompanying Signature] A 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] A 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 permits, a date earlier than the latter date.

3. [Signature of Communication 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 of its territory, require that a seal be used instead of a handwritten signature.

4. [Signature of Communications Filed in Electronic Form or by Electronic Means of Transmittal Resulting in Graphic Representation] Where a Contracting Party permits the filing of communications in electronic form or by electronic means of transmittal, it shall consider such a communication signed if a graphic representation of a signature accepted by that Contracting Party under paragraph 3 appears on that communication as received by the Office of that Contracting Party.

5. [Signature of Communications Filed in Electronic Form Not Resulting in Graphic Representation of Signature]
a) Where a Contracting Party permits the filing of communications in electronic form, and a graphic representation of a signature accepted by that Contracting Party under paragraph 3 does not appear on such a communication as received by the Office of that Contracting Party, the Contracting Party may require that the communication be signed using a signature in electronic form as prescribed by that Contracting Party.
b) Notwithstanding subparagraph a), where a Contracting Party permits the filing of communications in electronic form in a particular language, and there are requirements applicable to that Contracting Party under the Patent Cooperation Treaty in relation to signatures in electronic form of communications filed in electronic form in that language which do not result in a graphic representation of the signature, the Office of that Contracting Party shall accept a signature in electronic form in accordance with those requirements.
c) Rule 8(2)b) shall apply mutatis mutandis.

6. [Exception to Certification of Signature Under Article 8(4)b)] A Contracting Party may require that any signature referred to in paragraph 5 be confirmed by a process for certifying signatures in electronic form specified by that Contracting Party.