Rule 904. Content of the Notice of Appeal.

 (a)  Form. The notice of appeal shall be in substantially the following form:

   NOTICE OF APPEAL

    Notice is hereby given that C.D., defendant above named, hereby appeals to the (Supreme) (Superior) (Commonwealth) Court of Pennsylvania from the order entered in this matter on the

 (b)  Caption.—The parties shall be stated in the caption as they stood upon the record of the lower court at the time the appeal was taken.

 (c)  Request for transcript.—The request for transcript contemplated by Rule 1911 (request for transcript) or a statement signed by counsel that there is either no verbatim record of the proceedings or the complete transcript has been lodged of record, shall accompany the notice of appeal, but the absence of or defect in the request for transcript shall not affect the validity of the appeal.

 (d)  Docket entry.—The notice of appeal shall include a statement that the order appealed from has been entered in the docket. A copy of the docket entry showing the entry of the order appealed from shall be attached to the notice of appeal.

 (e)  Content in criminal cases.—When the Commonwealth takes an appeal pursuant to Rule 311(d), the notice of appeal shall include a certification by counsel that the order will terminate or substantially handicap the prosecution.

   Official Note

    The Offense Tracking Number (OTN) is required only in an appeal in a criminal proceeding. It enables the Administrative Office of the Pennsylvania Courts to collect and forward to the Pennsylvania State Police information pertaining to the disposition of all criminal cases as provided by the Criminal History Record Information Act, 18 Pa.C.S. §  9101 et seq.

   The 1986 amendment requires that the notice of appeal include a statement that the order appealed from has been entered in the docket. The 1986 amendment deletes the requirement that the appellant certify that the order has been reduced to judgment. This omission does not eliminate the requirement of reducing an order to judgment before there is a final appealable order where required by applicable practice or case law.

   The 1997 amendment changes the word ‘‘order’’ to ‘‘request’’ in order to eliminate any unintended implication that a court order is required. No court order is required to obtain a transcript of the proceedings. See Pa.R.J.A. 5000.5 and the 1997 amendment to subdivision (a) of Rule 1911.

   With respect to subdivision (e), in Commonwealth v. Dugger, 506 Pa. 537, 486 A.2d 382 (1985), the Supreme Court held that the Commonwealth’s certification that an order will terminate or substantially handicap the prosecution is not subject to review as a prerequisite to the Superior Court’s review of the merits of the appeal. Thus, the need for a detailed analysis of the effect of the order, formerly necessarily a part of the Commonwealth’s appellate brief, was eliminated. See also Commonwealth v. Deans, 530 Pa. 514, 610 A.2d 32 (1992); Commonwealth v. Cohen, 529 Pa. 552, 605 A.2d 1212 (1992) (allowing appeals by the Commonwealth from adverse rulings on motions in limine). Accordingly, the 1997 amendment added subdivision (e) as a requirement when the Commonwealth takes an appeal pursuant to Rule 311(d).

   A party filing a cross appeal 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 Rules 2113, 2136 and 2185 regarding briefs in cross appeals and Rule 2322 regarding oral argument in multiple appeals.

   The provisions of this Rule 904 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; corrected at January 16, 1987, 17 Pa.B. 246; amended July 7, 1997, effective in 60 days, 27 Pa.B. 3503; amended October 16, 2002, effective immediately, 32 Pa.B. 5402. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (279428) and (231627) to (231628).