5.3.4 Discretionary procedural decisions negatively affecting a party

In T 954/98 of 9 December 1999 date: 1999-12-09 the board held, with reference to T 843/91 of 17 March 1993 date: 1993-03-17 (OJ 1994, 818), that the mere taking of discretionary procedural steps which might disadvantage a particular party was not enough to justify exclusion, not even if the party interpreted those steps as expressing bias against it.

In T 190/03 date: 2005-03-18 (OJ 2006, 502; see also T 283/03, T 572/03 of 18 March 2005 date: 2005-03-18 and T 985/01 of 18 March 2005 date: 2005-03-18) the board held that not admitting amended claims, regardless of whether the board had correctly used its power or discretion to do so, would not give rise to an objectively justified fear of partiality.