According to the WIPO PCT Glossary, the Minimum documentation could be described as “the documents in which the International Searching Authority must search for relevant prior art.  It also applies to International Preliminary Examining Authorities for examination purposes.  The documentation comprises certain published patent documents and non-patent literature contained in a list published by the International Bureau.  The Minimum Documentation is set out by the PCT Regulations Rule 34“.

In the PCT International Search Guidelines, the international search minimum documentation is defined as “a document collection that is systematically arranged (or otherwise systematically accessible) for search purposes according to the subject matter content of the documents, which are primarily patent documents supplemented by a number of articles from periodicals and other items of non-patent literature”.

In February of 2003, at the seventh session of the Meeting of International Authorities under the PCT, there was agreement in principle that Traditional Knowledge documentation should be included in the non-patent literature part of the PCT Minimum Documentation.  For instance, the Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge and the Korean Journal of Traditional Knowledge are identified as non-patent literature in the “PCT Minimum Documentation – List of Periodicals:  Periodicals to Be Used for Search and Examination.”