Occasionally matters of substantive examination other than novelty or inventive step have a direct bearing on the execution of the search and may result in a limitation thereof; here again these opinions are subject to review by the examining division (see T 178/84 and T 631/97, and B‑II, 4.2(iii), and B‑XI, 1.2), in particular in the light of the applicant's reply to the search opinion (see B‑XI, 8).

Examples are to be found in B‑VII (Unity of invention) and B‑VIII (Subject-matter to be excluded from the search).