Rule Text
(a) General Rule. Except as otherwise prescribed by this rule, the notice of appeal required by Pa.R.A.P. 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), 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 Pa.R.A.P. 311(a)(3) (change of criminal venue or venire);
(ii) rescinded; and
(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) If an election has been filed under Pa.R.A.P. 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.
(4) An appeal from an order in matters arising under the Pennsylvania Election Code shall be taken within three days after the entry of the order.
Amendment history: 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; amended November 3, 2023, effective January 1, 2024, 53 Pa.B. 7132; amended September 2, 2026, effective September 11, 2026, 56 Pa.B. 6172. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (414633) to (414634).
Committee Notes
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 of 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 Pa.R.A.P. 511 (cross-appeals), Pa.R.A.P. 2113 (reply brief), Pa.R.A.P. 2136 (briefs in cases involving cross-appeals), Pa.R.A.P. 2185 (service and filing of briefs) and Pa.R.A.P. 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 Pa.R.A.P. 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 Pa.R.A.P. 511, the requirement that a party be adverse in order to file a cross-appeal was eliminated. Once a notice of appeal is filed by one party, any other party may file a cross-appeal within 14 days.
Rule of Appellate Procedure 107 incorporates by reference the rules of construction in the Pennsylvania Rules of Judicial Administration, Pa.R.J.A. 104—115. See Pa.R.J.A. 107(a)-(b) 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 Pa.R.A.P. 108 (date of entry of orders) and Explanatory Comment—2007 thereto, Pa.R.A.P. 301(a)(1) and (2) (entry upon docket below), and Pa.R.Crim.P. 462, 720, and 721 governing criminal appeals.
Except as provided in Pa.R.A.P. 903(c)(4), the timing and substance of other procedural requirements of appeals from orders in matters arising under the Pennsylvania Election Code, such as the time for certification of the original record or establishing briefing schedules, may be subject to an appellate case management order or rule.
Historical Commentary
The following commentary is historical in nature and represents statements of the Committee at the time of rulemaking:
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.
