4. Request for amendments or corrections in reply to the Rule 71(3) communication

If the applicant, within the period under Rule 71(3), requests amendments or corrections to the communicated text which are reasoned (with regard to the reasoning required, see C‑V, 4.3), the examining division will issue a new communication under Rule 71(3) if it gives its consent (i.e. if it finds the amendments admissible and allowable; see C‑V, 4.6); otherwise it will resume the examination proceedings (see C‑V, 4.7). This also applies in the following cases:

– if the applicant requests the reversal of amendments proposed by the examining division in the Rule 71(3) communication (see C‑V, 4.6.1);

– if the Rule 71(3) communication was based on an auxiliary request and the applicant replies by requesting that a grant be based on a higher-ranking request (see C‑V, 4.6.2 and 4.7.1.1).

In this and sections C‑V, 4.1 to C‑V, 4.10, unless otherwise stated, the terms "amendment(s)" and "correction(s)" refer only to amendments or corrections of the application documents and not of other documents (e.g. bibliographic data, the designation of the inventor, etc.).