k) Prima facie allowability 

In T 1185/17, on admittance of auxiliary request 1 filed after notification of the summons to oral proceedings, the appellant argued that this request overcame the objection under Art. 123(2) EPC referenced in the preliminary opinion of the board and was prima facie allowable. The board, however, underlined that these were criteria under Art. 13(1) RPBA 2020 that applied to any amendment of the party's appeal case after it had filed its grounds of appeal and therefore could not simultaneously be cogent reasons justifying exceptional circumstances for taking an amendment into account under Art. 13(2) RPBA 2020. See also T 2787/17.

However, see also T 1857/19, which stated that, even if the deletion of a claim category were to be considered an amendment, the fact that it significantly enhanced procedural economy by clearly overcoming existing objections without giving rise to any new issues could be seen as an exceptional circumstance within the meaning of Art. 13(2) RPBA 2020.