S.L. 417.1 Art. 17Inspection of files. Article 21.

(1) Files relating to patent applications, which have not yet been published, shall not be made available for inspection without the consent of the applicant.

(2) Any person who can prove that the applicant has invoked the rights under the patent application against him may obtain inspection of the files prior to the publication of that application and without the consent of the applicant.

(3) Where a divisional application is published, any person may obtain inspection of the files of the earlier application prior to the publication of that application and without the consent of the applicant.

(4) Subsequent to the publication of the patent application, the files relating to the application and the resulting patent may be inspected on request, subject to the restrictions laid down in these regulations.