Article 42 - Claiming priority

1. An applicant for a registered EU design desiring to take advantage of the priority of a previous application shall file a declaration of priority either together with the application or within two months of the date of filing. Such declaration of priority shall include the date and country of the previous application. The file number of the previous application and the documentation in support of the priority claim shall be filed within three months of the date of filing of the declaration of priority. 

2. The Executive Director may determine that the documentation to be provided by the applicant in support of the priority claim may consist of less than what is required under the implementing acts adopted pursuant to Article 42a, subject to compliance with the principle of equal treatment of applicants and provided that the information required is available to the Office from other sources.