1.2.2 Applicability of Rule 132 EPC to the Rules relating to Fees

In case J 7/07 the Receiving Section had given the appellant a period of one month to submit evidence and pay the surcharge under Art. 8(4) RFees 1973. The appellant argued that this one-month time limit was too short and amounted to a substantial procedural violation as it was not in compliance with R. 84 EPC 1973. Though R. 84 EPC 1973 referred only to the EPC and the Implementing Regulations, the Legal Board concluded that R. 84 EPC 1973 applied to the time limit in the then Art. 8(4) RFees 1973. The Legal Board explained that no provision of the EPC stated explicitly that the EPC took precedence over the Rules relating to Fees in cases of conflict between them. However, the EPC was clearly the higher legal norm, and in case of conflict, by analogy with Art. 164(2) EPC, the provisions of the EPC should take precedence over the provisions of the Rules relating to Fees.