Rule 43bis.1(a)

7.027.    What is the written opinion of the International Searching Authority?  The International Searching Authority will establish, at the same time that it establishes the international search report or the declaration referred to in Article 17(2)(a), a preliminary and nonbinding written opinion on the questions whether the claimed invention appears to be novel, to involve an inventive step and to be industrially applicable, very similar in scope to the written opinion established by the International Preliminary Examining Authority during international preliminary examination.

Rule 44.1

7.028.   The relevant date for determining prior art for the purposes of establishing the written opinion is the international filing date or, where priority of an earlier application is claimed, the priority date – this date is different from that used in establishing the international search report but is consistent with the date used in international preliminary examination.  The written opinion of the International Searching Authority is established in the language in which the international search report is established, and is communicated to the applicant and to the International Bureau together with the international search report or the declaration referred to in
Article 17(2)(a) (see paragraph 7.025).  The written opinion, unless it is not yet available to the International Bureau, is also made publicly available on PATENTSCOPE on the same day that the international application is published.