It has now been officially confirmed that the EPO will change the prerequisites for filing divisional applications. The Administrative Council decided that the respective Rules of the European patent convention will be amended.

As of April 1, 2014, the only criteria for filing a divisional application will be a pending parent application. There will be no two year time limit starting with the first official communication anymore. This decision will apply to all patent applications which are pending on that day, regardless of whether the two year time limit has already expired or not. There will be an increase of the filing fee for divisional applications of second or subsequent generations.

Therefore, it seems to be advisable to keep an application, for which the two year deadline has already passed, pending until April 1, 2014 to enable the filing of further divisional applications.

http://www.epo.org/news-issues/news/2013/20131018.html

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact mbp@mueller-bore.de