2.—(1) In these Rules—
“the Act” means the Patents Act 1977 and “section”, unless the contrary intention appears, means a section of the Act;
“application number” includes file number;
“compliance date” means the last day of the compliance period;
“compliance period” means the period prescribed by rule 30;
“declared priority date” has the meaning given to it by rule 3(1);
“initiation date” means the date on which a new application was initiated by documents, mentioned in section 15(1), being filed at the Patent Office;
“new application” means a new application filed under section 8(3), 12(6) or 37(4) or as mentioned in section 15(9);
“no declared priority date” has the meaning given to it by rule 3(2);
“Patents Form” has the meaning given to it by rule 4(1);
“priority application” means an earlier relevant application specified in a declaration for the purposes of section 5(2);
“sequence” and “sequence listing” have the same meaning as they have under the Patent Co-operation Treaty;
“start date” means, in relation to rules 106(6)(a) and 116 on supplementary protection certificates, the first day following the day on which the basic patent expires; and
“termination” has the meaning given by section 20B(7) and “terminated” shall be construed accordingly.
(2) Where a period of time has been altered under rules 20(4), 71(7), 81 or 107 to 111, any reference in these Rules to the period of time shall be construed as a reference to the period as altered.
(3) For the purposes of these Rules a document is available to the comptroller where—
(a)it is in electronic storage (whether in the Patent Office or elsewhere) and he can access it by using electronic communications; or
(b)it is kept at the Patent Office,
and he has been furnished with sufficient information to obtain a copy of the document.
(4) But a document may be treated as unavailable to the comptroller where—
(a)its accuracy cannot be verified to his satisfaction; or
(b)he has to pay to access it.