Chapter I – Introduction

Apart from the requirements of patentability (novelty, inventive step, industrial application and exclusions from patentability), a European patent application must also satisfy a number of other requirements. These include substantive requirements such as sufficiency of disclosure (Art. 83), clarity of the claims (Art. 84) and unity of invention (Art. 82) as well as requirements of a more formal nature such as the numbering of the claims (Rule 43(5)) and the form of the drawings (as determined by the President under Rule 49(2)). These requirements are dealt with here in Part F.

Part F also deals with the requirements relating to the right to priority. This is because, despite the fact that this issue is usually assessed only when it has a potential bearing on a question of patentability (see G‑IV, 3), it is nonetheless assessed independently of any issues of patentability.