3.4.1 Purpose of the duty to provide reasons

R. 111(2) EPC (formerly R. 68(2) EPC 1973) embodies the general principle of law that decisions must be reasoned and states: "Decisions of the European Patent Office which are open to appeal shall be reasoned …". This principle is intended to ensure fairness between the EPO and parties to proceedings and enable the decision to be reviewed on appeal (T 70/02). The EPO can only properly issue a decision against a party if that decision is adequately reasoned (T 652/97). In T 292/90 the board found that the reasoning given in a decision open to appeal has to enable the appellants and the board of appeal to examine whether the decision was justified or not (see also T 1532/21, T 1655/21).

In T 1713/20 the board specified that the requirement to provide reasons for appealable decisions ensured that the party adversely affected by the decision is enabled to understand whether the decision was justified and to decide whether to lodge an appeal. It likewise ensured that the board of appeal, whose primary task it is to review the decision under appeal in a judicial manner, is enabled to understand the conclusions on which the decision is based and why they have been drawn. On the basis of the reasoning given in the decision under appeal, the board assessed whether the conclusions drawn by the department which had taken the decision were correct (see also T 66/20). In T 265/03, and in T 1356/05 and T 1360/05, both referring to T 278/00 (OJ 2003, 546), the boards held that also from the point of view of the practical functioning of the system envisaged in the EPC, they could not examine the appeal in the absence of a reasoned decision.