Section 903. Time for Appeal

(a) General rule. Except as otherwise prescribed by this rule, the notice of appeal required by Rule 902 (manner of taking appeal) shall be filed within 30 days after the entry of the order from which the appeal is taken.

(b) Cross appeals. Except as otherwise prescribed in subdivision (c) of this rule, if a timely notice of appeal is filed by a party, any other party may file a notice of appeal within 14 days of the date on which the first notice of appeal was served, or within the time otherwise prescribed by this rule, whichever period last expires.

(c) Special provisions. Notwithstanding any other provision of this rule:

(1) An appeal from any of the following orders shall be taken within ten days after the entry of the order from which the appeal is taken:

(i) An order changing venue or venire in a criminal proceeding. See Rule 311(a)(3) (change of criminal venue or venire).

(ii) An order in any matter arising under the Pennsylvania Election Code.

(iii) An order in any matter arising under the Local Government Unit Debt Act or any similar statute relating to the authorization of public debt.

(2) Where an election has been filed under Rule 311(b) (order sustaining venue or personal or in rem jurisdiction), the notice of appeal shall be filed within 30 days after the filing of the election.

(3) In a criminal case in which no post-sentence motion has been filed, the notice of appeal shall be filed within 30 days of the imposition of the judgment of sentence in open court.

Official Note

42 Pa.C.S. § 5571(a) (appeals generally) provides that the time for filing an appeal, a petition for allowance of appeal, a petition for permission to appeal or a petition for review or a quasi-judicial order, in the Supreme Court, the Superior Court or the Commonwealth Court shall be governed by general rules and that no other provision of 42 Pa.C.S. Ch. 55D shall be applicable to such matters. In order to prevent inadvertent legislative creation of nonuniform appeal times, 42 Pa.C.S. § 1722(c) (time limitations) expressly authorizes the suspension by general rule of nonuniform statutory appeal times. See also 42 Pa.C.S. § 5501(a) (scope of chapter), which makes Chapter 55 (limitation of time) of the Judicial Code subordinate to any other statute prescribing a different time in the case of an action or proceeding, but which does not so provide in the case of an appeal.

Thus, on both a statutory and constitutional basis, this rule supersedes all inconsistent statutory provisions prescribing times for appeal.

As to subdivision (b), compare 42 Pa.C.S. § 5571(f) (cross appeals).

A party filing a cross appeal pursuant to subdivision (b) should identify it as a cross appeal in the notice of appeal to assure that the prothonotary will process the cross appeal with the initial appeal. See also Rule 511 (cross appeals), Rule 2113 (reply brief), Rule 2136 (briefs in cases involving cross appeals), Rule 2185 (service and filing of briefs) and Rule 2322 (cross and separate appeals).

In Re Petition of the Board of School Directors of the Hampton Township School District, 688 A.2d 279 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1997), the Commonwealth Court panel held that Rule 903(b) does not extend the appeal period for any other party to file an appeal unless the party is ‘‘adverse.’’ Under the 2002 amendment to Rule 511, the requirement that a party be adverse in order to file a cross appeal is eliminated. Once a notice of appeal is filed by one party, any other party may file a cross appeal within fourteen days.

Rule of Appellate Procedure 107 incorporates by reference the rules of construction of the Statutory Construction Act of 1972, 1 Pa.C.S. § § 1901—1991. See 1 Pa.C.S. § 1908 relating to computation of time for the rule of construction relating to (1) the exclusion of the first day and inclusion of the last day of a time period and (2) the omission of the last day of a time period which falls on Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday.

See Rule 108 (date of entry of orders) and Explanatory Comment—2007 thereto, Rule 301(a)(1) and (2) (entry upon docket below), and Pa.R.Crim.P. 462, 720, and 721 governing criminal appeals.

Explanatory Comment—2001

The 2001 amendment to Subdivision (c) clarifies that the appeal period for appealing from orders in civil cases sustaining venue or personal or in rem jurisdiction runs from the date of the election under Pa.R.A.P. 311(b)(1), not the date of the original order. The 2000 amendment extends the appeal period following such an election from ten days to thirty days to conform the appeal period for civil orders changing venue pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 311(c).

The portion of the Note suggesting the necessity of taking an appeal within the 20 day pleading period is misleading and is deleted. For this reason, the bracketed material of the Note is deleted.

Explanatory Comment—2002

See Comment following Pa.R.A.P., Rule 511.

The provisions of this Rule 903 amended through December 10, 1986, effective January 31, 1987, and shall govern all matters thereafter commenced, and insofar as just and practicable, matters then pending, 16 Pa.B. 4951; amended April 26, 2001, effective July 1, 2001, 31 Pa.B. 2469; amended October 18, 2002, effective December 2, 2002, 32 Pa.B. 5402; amended January 18, 2007, effective August 1, 2007, 37 Pa.B. 521; amended April 9, 2012, effective in 30 days, 42 Pa.B. 2269. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (360249) to (360250).