4.3.2 A supplementary European search report is required 

If a supplementary European search report is required (see B‑II, 4.3.1), the supplementary European search will generally be carried out in the same way as a European search. Any limitation is left to the search division's discretion; a fixed approach to this is not possible since the search practices at other ISAs are not fully harmonised with those of the EPO and the documentation available to them may differ too.

The EPO generally aims to avoid any unnecessary duplication of work and so relies on the efficiency and quality of the international searches as far as possible. If the international search report has not yet been drawn up when the application enters the European phase, the EPO will wait until it is available before starting to process the application. The EPO as designated Office requests the ISA or the SISA to supply, together with the international search report, copies of the documents cited in it (Art. 20(3) PCT, see also Rule 44.3(a) PCT or Rule 45bis.7(c) PCT). If a cited document is not in one of the EPO's official languages and the search division needs a translation into one of them, it provides this itself (e.g. a patent family member or an abstract of the document in an official language, see B‑VI, 6.2) unless it can obtain it from another source, e.g. the applicant or the ISA.