4.1.2 Obligation to set new time limit

The Legal Board held in J 13/90 (OJ 1994, 456) that if the applicant could expect to receive a communication warning them of an impending loss of rights, but that communication was not issued in due time, the EPO must set a new period allowing the applicant to remedy the deficiency and perform the omitted procedural act in due time (see also T 14/89). However, this only applies to non-absolute time limits, as an absolute time limit (such as the one-year time limit under the third sentence of Art. 122(2) EPC 1973, now R. 136(1) EPC), by definition, is non-extendable (J 34/92, but see also J 6/08).