The question of adapting the description to claims amended during the examination procedure is one that divides practitioners and EPO examiners alike. Depending on the amended claims, adapting the description may require extensive revision of the description, with the deletion of embodiments that are no longer covered, the risk of introducing errors into the granted patent, as well as additional costs for applicants.
The Boards of Appeal have in fact issued divergent decisions on the necessity of this adaptation required by the Guidelines for Examination before EPO (F.IV.4.3).
In decision T 697/22 of 29 July 2025, a technical board of appeal referred case G 1/25 ("Hydroponics") to the Enlarged Board of Appeal in order to clarify whether the European Patent Convention (EPC) requires the description to be adapted to the claims.