2. Procedure for amendments to documents
2.2 Amendment by submitting missing documents or by filing replacement pages
The content of a European patent application or patent may be amended within the limits laid down in Art. 123(2) and Art. 123(3). (For the conditions governing amendments, see also A‑V, 2, H‑II, H‑IV, H‑V and D‑V, 6.) This will normally be done by submitting missing documents or by filing replacement pages. Where replacement pages are filed, the applicant or patent proprietor is advised, in the interests of procedural efficiency, to identify clearly all amendments made, and indicate on which passages of the original application these amendments are based. Where whole paragraphs have been added or deleted, it is not necessary to renumber the paragraphs throughout the entire application or patent.
If handwritten amendments are filed during oral proceedings in opposition, the proprietor is invited in a Rule 82(2) communication to submit replacement paragraphs and/or claims only, and not replacement pages (see E‑III, 8.7.3, and OJ EPO 2016, A22, points 8 to 14).
Amendments should preferably be identified using functions available in a text editor to clearly indicate deletions and insertions in the amended text. Pages with such indications should be submitted in addition to clean copies. Alternatively, handwritten form is appropriate to fulfil the requirements of Rule 137(4), provided that clean copies are free from handwritten amendments.
The basis for amendments should preferably be indicated by including in the letter of reply a list of the amendments made and the precise basis for amendments in the application as filed (see H‑III, 2.1). Where the basis is not explicit, e.g. where a different wording is used or features are taken only from drawings or generalised from a specific embodiment, it is advisable to give a short explanation of why Art. 123(2) is fulfilled.
2.3Amendments using copies
Amendments, particularly to the description or claims, may be made by using copies in accordance with the following procedure:
If deemed expedient, the examining division or formalities officer may, on a copy of one or more pages of the documents to be amended, put forward suggestions as to how amendments should be made in such a way as to take account of the objections raised. The annotated copies (not the working documents which are to remain in the dossier) will then be forwarded to the applicant or, in opposition proceedings, to the proprietor of the patent and the other parties, in the communication setting out the objections. In this communication, the applicant or proprietor will not only be informed of the deficiencies recorded and invited to adopt a position or submit amendments within a fixed time limit, but will also be invited simultaneously to resubmit the said copy and – as an alternative to submitting replacement pages – to indicate on this copy, separately from the comments of the examining division (typewritten and in such a way as to be well legible after photocopying), any amendments to be made to the pages concerned. Opponents may also be invited to submit their comments in the same way.
The parties may also submit copies of one or more amended pages on their own initiative. The filing of completely retyped documents is normally objected to, for reasons of procedural economy, as these documents will have to be checked for correspondence with the original documents (see T 113/92). Requests to this effect will, therefore, normally not be admitted under Rule 137(3). Only where the amendments are so extensive as to affect the legibility of the copies, replacement pages must be filed. In this case such pages may also be requested by the examining division on its own initiative.