Applications giving rise to a right of priority referred to in III, 6.1(i) are those filed at industrial property offices:

To date, no such communication referred to in (c)(ii) has been issued and so this does not as yet apply. Furthermore, the members of the WTO do not necessarily have to be States as such, but may also be intergovernmental bodies or regions with special status such as the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu.

In view of the wording of Art. 87(1) which refers to filings "in or for" any State party to the Paris Convention or member of the WTO, priority may be claimed of an earlier first filed national application, European application or international application. A list of the countries party to the Paris Convention is published on WIPO's website and is regularly published in the Official Journal of the EPO. Likewise a list of the members of the WTO is published on the website of the WTO, and this list is also regularly updated.

The decisions G 2/02 and G 3/02 (OJ 10/2004, 483) previously excluded the possibility of claiming priority from an application filed at the industrial property authority of members of the WTO which were not also signatory states to the Paris Convention (Art. 87(1) EPC 1973). This exclusion no longer applies under the revised Art. 87(1).