4.2.2 Second and third levels of the convergent approach: amendments to an appeal case within the meaning of Article 13(1) and (2) RPBA 2020
Since a withdrawn request ceases to be at issue in the proceedings, its admission (consideration) if it is resubmitted at a later stage is subject to the same procedural requirements as apply to a brand new one (T 2692/18, referring to T 1695/14 and T 1421/20). In the case to be decided in T 2692/18, this meant that Art. 13(2) RPBA 2020 had to be applied because the request originally filed in response to the reply had been replaced by other requests following the communication under Art. 15(1) RPBA 2020 and had not then been resubmitted until the oral proceedings.
In T 1421/20 auxiliary requests 1 to 5 had been considered in the decision under appeal, but the board noted that they had been replaced (i.e. withdrawn) at the beginning of the appeal and were thus not part of the appellant's (applicant's) appeal case. The board thus regarded their reintroduction (after notification of the summons to oral proceedings) as an amendment to the appellant's case, the admission of which was subject to its discretion (Art. 13 RPBA 2020). See also T 798/18.