For the issue of reimbursement of the appeal fee the distinction between an appeal not deemed to have been filed and an inadmissible appeal is relevant. When the appeal is deemed not to have been filed the appeal fee must be reimbursed since the purpose of this fee cannot be achieved. On the contrary, when an appeal is inadmissible it is in principle not possible to repay the appeal fee (T 445/98).

According to R. 103(1)(a) EPC (R. 67 EPC 1973) the reimbursement of appeal fees shall be ordered in the event of interlocutory revision or where the board of appeal deems an appeal allowable, if such reimbursement is equitable by reason of a substantial procedural violation.

Whether a case can be remitted to a differently composed department of first instance when the original first-instance decision proves to have been vitiated by a substantial procedural violation is dealt with in detail, in the context of suspected partiality of members of the departments of first instance, in chapter III.J.4.2. "Remittal and rehearing of a case".