USPTO: "Legal Framework for the Use of the Electronic Filing System"

According to the USPTO, this document "explains the legal framework for the treatment of patent applications filed under the Electronic Filing System (EFS). It describes how an electronic application will be processed by the United States Patent and Trademark Office and clarifies some issues concerning these applications and the regulations of the USPTO. It describes, from a legal point of view, the submission process and the subsequent handling of submissions under the EFS, including New Utility Patent Application Submissions (Part I), Provisional Application Submissions, (Part II), Submissions under Eighteen-Month Publication (Part III), Submissions on Compact Disc (Part IV), and Information Disclosure Statement Submissions (Part V)."