(a) Where the International Searching Authority receives a correction of a defect under Rule 13ter.1(f), it shall:
(i) indelibly mark, in the upper right-hand corner of each replacement sheet, the international application number and the date on which that sheet was received;
(ii) indelibly mark, in the middle of the bottom margin of each replacement sheet, the words "SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 13ter.1(f))" or their equivalent in the language of publication of the international application;
(iii) indelibly mark on the letter containing the correction, or accompanying any replacement sheet, the date on which that letter was received;
(iv) keep in its files a copy of the letter containing the correction or, when the correction is contained in a replacement sheet, the replaced sheet, a copy of the letter accompanying the replacement sheet, and a copy of the replacement sheet;
(v) promptly transmit any letter and any replacement sheet to the International Bureau, and a copy thereof to the receiving Office.
(b) Where the international search report and the written opinion of the International Searching Authority are based on a sequence listing not forming part of the international application but furnished for the purposes of the international search, the international search report and the written opinion of the International Searching Authority shall so indicate.
(c) Where a meaningful international search cannot be carried out and a meaningful written opinion, as to whether the claimed invention appears to be novel, to involve an inventive step (to be non-obvious) and to be industrially applicable, cannot be established because a sequence listing is not available to the International Searching Authority in the required form, that Authority shall so state in the international search report or declaration referred to in Article 17(2)(a), and in the written opinion.
(d) The International Searching Authority shall indelibly mark, on the first sheet of any sequence listing on paper which does not form part of the international application but was furnished for the purposes of the international search, the words "SEQUENCE LISTING NOT FORMING PART OF THE INTERNATIONAL APPLICATION" or their equivalent in the language of publication of the international application. Where such sequence listing is furnished in electronic form on a physical medium, that Authority shall physically label that medium accordingly.
(e) The International Searching Authority shall:
(i) keep in its files one copy of any sequence listing, whether on paper or in electronic form, which does not form part of the international application but was furnished for the purposes of the international search; and
(ii) where the sequence listing which does not form part of the international application but was furnished for the purposes of the international search is in electronic form, transmit one copy thereof to the International Bureau together with the copy of the international search report. If that listing in electronic form is filed on a physical medium in less than the number of copies required by the International Searching Authority, that Authority shall be responsible for the preparation of the additional copy and shall have the right to fix a fee for performing that task and to collect such fee from the applicant.
(f) Any International Searching Authority which requires, for the purposes of the international search, the furnishing of a sequence listing in electronic form shall notify the International Bureau accordingly. In that notification, the Authority shall specify the means of transmittal of the sequence listing in electronic form accepted by it in accordance with Annex F. The International Bureau shall promptly publish details of the notification in the Gazette.
