Key points
- T 1006/21 , online on 12.04.2024: Any request for remittal made by a
party is not subject to the provisions of Art. 12 and 13 (r.24).
Procedural requests are not amendments within the meaning of Art. 12 and
13 (r.26). Procedural requests on questions that have to be taken up ex officio
may relate to remittal, as in this case, or to [a requested] referral to the
Enlarged Board of Appeal (Article 112(1)(a) EPC), [or] the admissibility of the
appeal (Article 110 EPC), [or to the] (non-)admission and consideration of
claim requests, allegations of facts or evidence (Article 114, Rule 116(1)
EPC), [or to the ] interruption of proceedings (Rule 142 EPC), exclusion of
board members (Article 24(1) and (2) EPC), or the appointment of oral
proceedings if expedient (Article 116(1) EPC). (r.27)
The same applies to other procedural requests on questions that do not have to be taken up ex officio but only upon request, such as for a change of date of oral proceedings (Art.15(2)), acceleration of proceedings (Art.10(3)), objections against board members (Article 24(3) EPC) or according to Rule 106 EPC, or requests for a stay of proceedings (Rule 14 EPC) (r.28)
None of these procedural requests are subject to the provisions of Art. 12 and 13. They can, therefore, be made at any time during the appeal proceedings and must be considered by the board, regardless of when they are made (r.29)
T1774/21 online on 10.07.2024
In the context of the RPBA 2020 the term ‘requests’ includes requests for non-admission of, for example, an objection (contrary to what is suggested in T 1006/21 […]). In particular, the term ‘requests’ is not limited to texts of patent applications or patents. If this were the case, the text of the provisions (in particular, Art.12(2), (3) and (6)) would have specified this and would not have used the general term ‘requests’.
https://www.epo.org/en/boards-of-appeal/decisions/t211774eu1
- As a comment, would a referral to the EBA be possible, or is this a priori excluded if the interpretation of the RPBA is at issue?
Recent decision T 1230/22, in an obiter dictum, disagrees with T 1006/21 and considers late-filed objection to be subject to Art. 12 and 13 RPBA.
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