Chapter II – Admissibility of amendments – general rules
Where the search was limited to certain subject-matter by application of Rule 63 (see B‑VIII, 3.1 and B-VIII, 3.2), the claims must be amended in such a way as to remove the unsearched subject-matter and the description adapted accordingly.
Where the search was limited to certain claims by application of Rule 62a (see B‑VIII, 4.1 and B-VIII, 4.2), the claims must be amended in such a way as to remove the unsearched independent claims and the description adapted accordingly. To this end, the claims may be amended, for example, by deleting an unsearched independent claim or, where this complies with Art. 123(2) and Art. 84, by making an unsearched independent claim dependent on another independent claim of the same category which has been searched.
In both of these cases, a specific amendment is necessary unless the examining division finds that the limitation of the search under Rule 62a and/or Rule 63 or the declaration of no search under Rule 63 was not justified, e.g. in view of arguments provided by the applicant.
Such amendments may, however, be made only in examination proceedings or, preferably, in reply to the search opinion (see F‑IV, 3.3). Since the applicant may not amend the claims before receipt of the search report (Rule 137(1)), any claims filed in reply to an invitation under Rule 62a or Rule 63 will be taken only as an indication of what the applicant wants the EPO to search and dealt with accordingly (see B‑VIII, 3.2 and B‑VIII, 4.2). The applicant will then have to confirm maintenance of these amendments formally on entry into the examination phase (see A‑V, 2.2).