申請人應揭露前案（EPC Art. 124）

EPC Article 124 (2000/11/29修法)
Information on prior art

歐洲專利局可要求申請人提出審查中的歐洲專利申請案的相對其他國家審查時的前案文獻，如果申請人並未在設定時間內提出，該歐洲申請案可能會被撤回

[原文]
(1) The European Patent Office may, in accordance with the Implementing Regulations, invite the applicant to provide information on prior art taken into consideration in national or regional patent proceedings and concerning an invention to which the European patent application relates.
(2) If the applicant fails to reply in due time to an invitation under paragraph 1, the European patent application shall be deemed to be withdrawn.

EPC施行細則Rule 141
Information on prior art

如果歐洲申請案有主張其他地區申請案的優先權（比如PCT進入EP的案子），則其他地區申請案的檢索結果應提交給EPO，EPO審查委員也可發函要求申請人在兩個月內提出其他地區的審查檢索結果

[原文]
(1) An applicant claiming priority within the meaning of Article 87 shall file a copy of the results of any search carried out by the authority with which the previous application was filed together with the European patent application, in the case of a Euro-PCT application on entry into the European phase, or without delay after such results have been made available to him.
(2) The copy referred to in paragraph 1 shall be deemed to be duly filed if it is available to
the European Patent Office and to be included in the file of the European patent application
under the conditions determined by the President of the European Patent Office.
(3) Without prejudice to paragraphs 1 and 2, the European Patent Office may invite the applicant to provide, within a period of two months, information on prior art within the
meaning of Article 124, paragraph 1.

Ron