of claims. The possibility to replace descriptions and drawings with a reference to a previously filed application was used by applicants 391 times (usually for divisional applications) during the year following the entry into force of the EPC 2000, "accounting for 0.6 % of all direct European filings." Priority rights extended to first filing in WTO members The priority rights are extended to filing in or for any member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), in addition to any state party to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. This amendment has been made to align the European Patent Convention with Article 2 of the TRIPS Agreement. Legal remedies Extensive changes were also made to the possibilities for the legal remedy of the failure to observe various time limits within the European patent system. Most particularly, the failure to pay various fees (filing fee, designation fee, search fee and examination fee) were, until the coming into force of the EPC 2000, excluded from the standard legal remedies of further processing and re-establishment of rights. Under the EPC 1973, the failure to observe the time limits for paying these fees could only be remedied by strict grace periods. These grace periods have now been replaced by the application of further processing and, if the further processing time limit is missed, re-establishment of rights, which although not directly applicable to the time limit missed originally, is applicable to the failure to observe the time limit for further processing.: "Time limits covered" ("(...) re-establishment of rights comes into play where further processing is excluded in respect of a specific period or where the time limit for requesting further processing has expired. In the latter case, re-establishment of rights in respect of the time limit for requesting further processing is to be requested (see E‑VIII, 2), and not in respect of the originally missed time limit."). One of the biggest changes, was to allow the excuse of the failure to observe the 12 month priority period. If this period is missed, this failure can be remedied by a request for re-establishment of rights filed within 2 months of the expiry of the priority period (in most other cases, the request for re-establishment must be filed within two months of the removal of the impediment to completing the act in question on time, up to a maximum of 12 months). This is provided