Deux ou plusieurs couches non substantielles adjacentes (c'est-à-dire sans aucun composant substantiel entre les deux) sont considérées comme un seul composant non substantiel et doivent donc satisfaire toutes deux aux exigences applicables à une couche constituant un composant non substantiel.
Two or more non-substantial layers that are adjacent to each other (i.e. with no substantial component(s) in-between the layers) are regarded as one non-substantial component and, therefore, must altogether comply with the requirements for a layer being a non-substantial component.