The Administrative Council of the European Patent Office (EPO) has adopted a draft of new procedural regulation for the Boards of Appeal. This will come into force on 1 January 2020 and will apply essentially to all pending or filed appeals.

New procedures are intended to increase efficiency within the Boards of Appeal, inter alia, in order to counteract the backlog of proceedings. A greater focus on a legal review of the first instance decision means that new submissions will be more difficult to file with the appeal. This can be advantageous or disadvantageous for one side or the other depending on the case constellation.

The new Rules of Procedure of the Boards of Appeal can be found here.