What is the difference between the EPODOC and DOCDB formats?

In the EPODOC format, only the country code (CC) and document number are mandatory and must be given in one string. Leading zeros can generally be ignored, e.g.:

<doc-number>EP453930</doc-number>.

In the DOCDB format, the country code (CC), document number and kind code (KC) are all mandatory. If you don't know the kind code, you can replace it in full or in part with the wildcard '%':

<country>EP</country>
<doc-number>453930</doc-number>
<kind>A2</kind>

The following expressions for the kind code are also acceptable:

<kind>A%</kind>
<kind>%%</kind>

Note: The use of wildcards may lead to an "ambiguous seed" response. The wildcards can be used in INPADOC-related services, bibliographic retrieval and document inquiry only.