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Guidelines for Examination in the EPO

Guidelines for Examination - Table of Contents  
PART B GUIDELINES FOR SEARCH PART A PART C  
CHAPTER III CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SEARCH CHAPTER II GENERAL CHAPTER IV SEARCH PROCEDURE AND STRATEGY  
3. The subject of the search 2. Scope of the search    
3.4 Abandonment of claims 3.3 Amended claims 3.5 Anticipation of amendments to claims  

3.4

Abandonment of claims

 

For European applications, claims that are deemed to have been abandoned for non-payment of fees must be excluded from the search. This applies both to searches to be carried out in respect of directly-filed European applications and to supplementary searches to be carried out in respect of Euro-PCT applications entering the European phase (see II, 4.3).

Rule 45(3)

Rule 162(4)




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