Inspection of files is subject to the restrictions laid down in Rule 144.
The parts of the file excluded from inspection are:
Apart from listing the documents excluded from file inspection by the EPO of its own motion, the decision of the President referred to under point (iv) above stipulates that (parts of) other documents the inspection of which is claimed to be prejudicial to the legitimate personal or economic interests of a natural or legal person may be excluded from file inspection on request. Any such request needs to be duly substantiated and point out in which specific way the legitimate personal or economic interests of the party are affected and what are the consequences thereof rather than merely making a statement concerning a party's interests in general. Also, it is recommended to clearly mark any requests for exclusion from file inspection, allowing them to be immediately identified as such and to be provisionally excluded from inspection, pending a final decision on the request.
When a submission is to be excluded from file inspection only partially, only the parts or passages in question are excluded, while the rest of the submission remains public.
If it is decided that certain papers, either marked "confidential" or in view of the nature of their content, are not to be excluded from file inspection under Rule 144, they are returned to the sender (see T 516/89).