4. In terms of Section 43(3) of the South African Patents Act, a Convention patent application automatically becomes open to inspection after the lapse of eighteen months from the earliest priority date claimed. No equivalent provisions exist for a non-Convention application automatically becoming open to public inspection after the lapse of an eighteen month period. Does this not mean that, in many cases, the requirements of Article 2 of the TRIPS Agreement, read with Article 2 of the Paris Convention, would not be met? Please explain.