a) General 

In accordance with the case law, the boards refuse to consider late-filed auxiliary requests on the ground that they are inadmissible where they are directed to subject-matter which prima facie is not allowable. The subject-matter must be so clear and straightforward that it can be easily understood and regarded as allowable. Claims are clearly allowable if the board can quickly ascertain that they do not give rise to new objections and overcome all outstanding objections under the EPC and their patentability could be assessed without giving rise to any difficulty or delay (on this point, see T 153/85, OJ 1988, 1; T 270/90, OJ 1993, 725; T 955/91; T 92/93; T 401/95; T 862/00; T 1004/01; T 1202/02; T 922/03; T 87/05: T 1785/07; T 824/07; T 615/08; T 421/09; T 360/11). It must be immediately apparent to the board, with little investigative effort on its part, that the amendments made successfully address the issue raised, without giving rise to new ones (T 1634/09, T 1743/09). There must be no doubt that the late‑filed requests meet the formal requirement and that they constitute a promising attempt to counter all outstanding objections (T 33/07, T 321/07, T 1650/08, T 1168/08, T 1634/09).