Thanks for the reply BillieBob. I did not miss the appendix, and I understand it in the same way as you put it - cross-credit applies only when revalidating IR/ME, not doing the check for the first time.
There have been a couple of posts in this thread though stating that if one posesses a valid IR/ME (like I will when I gain it) one is also entitled to fly SEP in IFR (so - no need to revalidate IR/SE ?)
Thing is, I cannot find anything to confirm this in 1178/2011.