Chapter VI – Correction of errors
According to Art. 70(1), the text of a patent in the language of the proceedings is the authentic text. It therefore follows that the translations of the claims of the patent specification required by Art. 14(6) are for information only. Hence no examination of the translations takes place (C‑V, 1.3); in particular, the translations do not form part of the decision to grant the patent. Therefore they cannot be corrected under Rule 140, either. However, if when a corrected version of a translation of the claims is received, the stage of preparations for the B publication still allows the exchange of documents, the EPO will publish the corrected version instead of the original version of the translation.
Where corrected translations of claims are not submitted to the EPO in time to be taken into account for the B publication, the only possibilities for the patent proprietor to amend them are when the patent is maintained in amended form (Rule 82(2)) or, as indicated in Art. 70(4), before a national authority.