4.1. General professional obligations

In D 16/95 the board ruled that, although drafting and filing translations and paying fees in the national phase in a contracting state were not directly related to grant, opposition or appeal proceedings, such activities were still covered by Art. 1 RDR. They were, after all, activities in connection with a European patent (see Art. 65 and 141 EPC 1973) and as such part of a professional representative's job. Regarding them as covered by Art. 1 RDR was also justified by the fact that it was difficult for outsiders (e.g. persons commissioned to translate patent specifications) to distinguish between those of a representative's activities which were directly related to grant, opposition or appeal proceedings and those which were not. Since national-phase-related activities were thus covered by Art. 1 RDR, reprehensible conduct in connection with them constituted a breach of a representative's general professional obligations under that provision (see also D 25/05).