Case Law of the Boards of Appeal

In several decisions, the DBA pointed out that, under point 7 of the former Instructions to candidates (OJ 1995, 145) and point 7 of the former Instructions to invigilators (OJ 1995, 153), a timely and formally correct complaint about the conduct of the examination was to be submitted to the Examination Board, which was then supposed to issue a provisional opinion, together with an invitation to comment. Failure to do so put it in breach of generally recognised principles of procedural law (Art. 125 EPC), notably the right to be heard (Art. 113(1) EPC; see D 17/96, D 2/97, D 2/99 and D 3/99). See now R. 19(3) and (4) IPREE.