Where the Search Division finds that the claimed invention does not meet the requirement of unity of invention (Art. 82 and Rule 30(1) (2)), the Search Division sends the applicant an invitation to pay additional search fees and the partial search report relating to the invention or unitary group of inventions first mentioned in the claims (see VII, 1.1, VII, 1.2 and VII, 1.3 and Rule 46(1)). The invitation and partial search report are not accompanied by a search opinion.

After the time limit for payment of the additional search fees has expired, (Rule 46(1)) the applicant is sent a search report relating to the invention or unitary group of inventions first mentioned in the claims and all other claimed inventions or unitary groups of inventions in respect of which additional search fees have been paid. This is accompanied by a search opinion containing:

(i) the reasoning behind the lack of unity

The above applies equally to European search reports and European supplementary search reports.