8. Validity of priority and E/P documents 

At this stage the priority document should be available in the file and it can therefore be checked if E/P documents were found during the search. Should the priority document not be available, for the purposes of the search the priority is assumed to be valid. No indication in the Scope Annex is necessary.

If the priority is not valid, this will be explained in the Scope Annex, and any P documents found to be relevant will be dealt with in detail.

On the other hand, if the priority is valid, any cited P documents do not need to be dealt with in detail.

Any E document which is a potential Art. 54(3) EPC document will be dealt with in the Scope Annex. In this case the applicant's attention should be drawn to the relevance of such a document if the application enters the European phase before the EPO and a reasoned statement as to lack of novelty will be given.