3.1.2 Designation of States

In J 3/83 the Legal Board explained that the concept of a time limit within Art. 122 EPC 1973 involved a period of time of a certain duration. In the case of designation of states, there was no such period. States had to be designated at a particular time, see Art. 79(1) EPC 1973. With the EPC 2000 this is no longer an issue, as under the current Art. 79(1) EPC all contracting states party to the EPC at the time when the application is filed are deemed to be designated in the request for grant of a European patent.