The Enlarged Board of Appeal held in G 2/97 that the appellant's responsibility for fulfilling the conditions of an admissible appeal could not be devolved to the board. There can be no legitimate expectation on the part of users of the European patent system that a board will issue warnings with respect to deficiencies in meeting such responsibilities. To take the principle of good faith that far would imply that the boards would have to systematically assume the responsibilities of the parties to proceedings before them, a proposition for which there was no legal justification in the EPC or in general principles of law.

In T 267/08 the board made it clear that it was under no obligation to warn a party of deficiencies in the filing of an authorisation; rather, the party itself had the responsibility to take all necessary steps to avoid a loss of rights. Responsibility for filing a valid authorisation could not be devolved to the board.