3.5 Proceedings not covered

The proceedings under the PCT are referred to as the "international phase" of an international application. The international-phase proceedings before the EPO as receiving Office, (S)ISA and/or IPEA are addressed in the Guidelines for Search and Examination at the EPO as PCT Authority ("PCT‑EPO Guidelines").

Except for important aspects relating to interlocutory revision, the appeal procedure is not dealt with in these Guidelines.

Nor do these Guidelines deal with proceedings relating to Unitary Patent protection (Regulations (EU) No 1257/2012 and No 1260/2012, OJ EPO 2013, 111, and OJ EPO 2013, 132) other than those aspects arising during the European patent grant procedure (see C‑IV, 7.2) or, for example, for requesting unitary effect for the granted patent (see C‑V, 2.1). All other aspects relating to the Unitary Patent system are dealt with in the Unitary Patent Guidelines ("UP Guidelines") (see General Part, 9).