The recognised States, referred to at III, 6.1(i) above, are States party to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, or States not party to that Convention which have made an agreement with the EPO under Art. 87(5) EPC (to date, no such agreements have been concluded). In view of the wording of Art. 87(1) which refers to filings "in or for any State party to the Paris Convention", priority may be claimed of an earlier first filed national application, European application or international application. A list of States in respect of which the filing is recognised as giving rise to a priority right is annexed to this Chapter (III-Annex). These are the Contracting States to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. A list of the countries party to the Paris Convention is published on WIPO's website and is regularly published in the Official Journal of the EPO.

However, the TRIPS Agreement does not entitle the applicant for a European application to claim priority from a first filing in a State which was not at the relevant dates a member of the Paris Convention but was a member of the WTO/TRIPS Agreement (G 2/02 and G 3/02 (OJ 10/2004, 483)).