According to T 954/98 of 9 December 1999 date: 1999-12-09 the mere fact of taking discretionary procedural steps which might disadvantage a particular party is not enough to justify exclusion, not even if the party interpreted those steps as expressing bias against it.

In T 190/03 date: 2005-03-18 (OJ 2006, 502; see also T 283/03, T 572/03 of 18 March 2005 date: 2005-03-18 and T 985/01 of 18 March 2005 date: 2005-03-18) the board held that not admitting amended claims, regardless of whether the board had correctly used its power or discretion to do so, would not give rise to an objectively justified fear of partiality.