5.1.4 Timeframe for filing amendments

Unlike R. 137(3) EPC (R. 86(3) EPC 1973), according to which no amendment may be made without the consent of the examining division other than in the circumstances set out under paragraph (2) of that provision, R. 80 EPC (R. 57a EPC 1973) does not specify a point in time up to which the proprietor may amend the description, claims and drawings in accordance with the requirements of this provision.

According to the case law of the boards of appeal, however, the proprietor has no right to have amendments admitted at any stage of the opposition proceedings that it chooses, such as during oral proceedings, especially not without the need to give good reasons for such late filing. The right to file amendments in the course of proceedings is not unlimited in time and proposed amendments may be disregarded in particular if submitted late in the proceedings (T 153/85, OJ 1988, 1; T 406/86, OJ 1989, 302; T 295/87, OJ 1990, 470; T 132/92, T 382/97, T 796/02, T 1253/09).

The board in T 500/15 also held that while there was no legal basis for refusing to admit a request merely because it had been filed after a point in time specified by the opposition division, the general admissibility of amendments did not mean that amendments always had to be admitted.