A subsequent application for the same subject-matter and filed in or for the same State is considered as the "first application" for priority purposes if, at the date this subsequent application was filed, the still earlier application had been withdrawn, abandoned or refused, without being open to public inspection and without leaving any rights outstanding, and had not served as a basis for claiming priority. The EPO will not consider this question unless there is evidence of the existence of a still earlier application as, for example, in the case of a United States continuation-in-part application. Where it is clear that a still earlier application for the same subject-matter exists, and where the priority right is important because of intervening prior art (see V, 2.1), the applicant should be required to establish by evidence from an appropriate authority (normally a national patent office) that there were no rights outstanding in the still earlier application in respect of the subject-matter of the application being examined.