[2] The possibility to file a divisional application is provided in many patent systems and is guaranteed by Article 4.G.
"[6] The practice relating to the filing of divisional applications under the EPC was clarified by the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the EPO in June 2007.
[17] In October 2013, the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation again amended Rules 36, 38 and 135 of the Implementing Regulations, which define the time limits for filing divisional applications in Europe.
[18] In other words, an additional fee for the filing of divisional applications of the second or any further generation was introduced.
[21] In Board of Appeal decision J 18/09, it was held that a divisional application cannot be validly filed based on a PCT application before entry into European regional phase,[22] as later confirmed in Enlarged Board of Appeal decision G 1/09.
[24] This contrasts with the situation in the United States, as laid out in the U.S. Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP).
[25] In decision G 1/09, the Enlarged Board of Appeal held that In decision J 4/11, the Legal Board of Appeal held that European divisional applications must be filed directly or by post with one of the filing offices of the EPO, i.e. at the European Patent Office at Munich, The Hague, or Berlin.
[29] The national authority may however, as a service, choose to forward the divisional application to the EPO.