o) Adaptation of the description 

In T 1968/18 the board took the view that the filing of amended description pages resulted in an amendment to the patent proprietor's appeal case. However, in the board’s view the term "exceptional circumstances" was not restricted to new or unforeseen developments in the appeal proceedings but could be interpreted more broadly (e.g. T 713/14, T 1294/16, T 545/18, T 661/18 and T 1598/18). The board pointed out that according to established case law, if the claims of a patent as granted were amended, the description had to be made consistent therewith (e.g. T 977/94, T 1883/11, T 1252/11, T 237/16, T 987/16, T 1024/18 and T 121/20). Moreover it was established practice of the boards of appeal to deal with the question of adapting the description only after the board had concluded that the claims of the patent as amended were allowable. Against this background, the board saw exceptional circumstances in that the amended description pages were filed to adapt the description to the claims of the main request, which was considered allowable.

Referring to T 1968/18, the board in T 1695/21 confirmed the view that an adapted description should normally only be filed after the board has concluded that there is an allowable version of the claims. See also T 2465/19.

See also chapter V.A.4.2.3k) on whether adapting the description is even to be treated as an amendment. The board in T 2178/17, for instance, considered that it was not.