11.1 General remarks 

The search report is sent to the applicant and transmitted to the examining division. Copies of all the cited documents are made available to the applicant (see also B‑IV, 3.3), except for those documents appearing in the search report after the "&" symbol which the search division has not earmarked for this (see B‑X, 11.3).

These cited documents are then used to assess the patentability of the claimed invention (see B‑XI, 3) both in the search opinion (if applicable ‒ see B‑XI, 7) and in the examination proceedings.