4.1 General remarks 

The application must disclose the invention in a manner sufficiently clear and complete for it to be carried out by a person skilled in the art.

The "person skilled in the art" for this purpose is considered to be the skilled practitioner in the relevant field aware not only of the teaching of the application itself and the references therein, but also of what was common general knowledge in the art at the date of filing (date of priority) of the application. They are assumed to have at their disposal the means and the capacity for routine work and experimentation, which are normal for the technical field in question. As "common general knowledge" can generally be considered the information contained in basic handbooks, monographs and textbooks on the subject in question (see T 171/84). As an exception, it can also be the information contained in patent specifications or scientific publications, if the invention lies in a field of research which is so new that the relevant technical knowledge is not yet available from textbooks (see T 51/87). Sufficiency of disclosure must be assessed on the basis of the application as a whole, including the description, claims and drawings, if any. The provisions relating to the content of the description are set out in Rule 42. The purpose of the provisions of Art. 83 and Rule 42 is:

(i)to ensure that the application contains sufficient technical information to enable a skilled person to put the invention as claimed into practice; and 

(ii)to enable the skilled person to understand the contribution to the art which the invention as claimed has made.