1.1. Amendments made by the applicant of his own volition under Rule 137(2) EPC

Following receipt of the search report and search opinion, and prior to the first communication from the examining division, the applicant must (subject to certain exceptions) respond to the search opinion, by filing amendments to the description, claims or drawings and/or filing his observations on the objections raised in the search opinion. Any amendments filed at this stage are made by the applicant of his own volition in accordance with R. 137(2) EPC (Guidelines C‑II, 3.1 – March 2022 version).

R. 137(2) EPC states: "Together with any comments, corrections or amendments made in response to communications by the European Patent Office under R. 70a (1) or (2) EPC, or R. 161(1) EPC, the applicant may amend the description, claims and drawings of his own volition". No further amendments may be made without the consent of the examining division (R. 137(3) EPC).

The applicant's response required by R. 70a EPC (or filed voluntarily in response to search opinions not requiring a response) will be taken into account by the examining division when drafting the first communication (Guidelines C‑II, 3.1 – March 2022 version).

In T 1178/08 the board stated that in accordance with Art. 123(1) EPC in conjunction with R. 137(2) and (3) EPC, an applicant is to be given at least one opportunity to amend the application of his own volition. No further amendments may be made without the consent of the examining division.