According to the established case law of the boards of appeal, the doctrine of prohibition of reformatio in peius cannot be construed to apply separately to each point or issue decided, or the reasoning leading to the impugned decision (see T 149/02). If an appeal is lodged against an adverse decision of the department of first instance about the main request, then the whole request is before the board of appeal and within its jurisdiction, and the board is empowered to reopen and to decide upon matters which have been an issue before the opposition division (see T 327/92, T 401/95, T 583/95, T 576/12).
Source: http://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/html/caselaw/2019/e/clr_v_a_3_1_1.htm
Date retrieved: 17 May 2021