Amendments of the Regulations under the PCT and Consequential Modifications of other PCT Texts

A number of amendments to the Regulations under the PCT were adopted by the Assembly of the PCT Union on October 1, 1997, and came into effect on July 1, 1998.

The majority of the changes deal with priority claims and the furnishing of priority documents; the presentation of nucleotide or amino acid sequence listings; references to deposited biological material; the transmittal of an application to the competent International Preliminary Examining Authorities; the time limits for payment of certain fees and the introduction of a late payment fee for Chapter II fees; and additional cases in which international applications may be transmitted to the International Bureau as receiving office.

As a consequence of the rule changes, corresponding modifications are being proposed by the International Bureau to various texts and forms. The modified texts and forms have been promulgated by the Director General of WIPO and the corresponding changes are reflected in the July 1998 update of the PCT Applicant's Guide. Consolidated versions, in English and French, of the PCT Regulations, effective July 1, 1998, are available on WIPO's Web site. These documents are also available from the Information Products Section at WIPO (the price of the publication is $15 US), in the form of the Patent Cooperation Treaty and the Regulations under the PCT.

If you require more detailed information concerning the implications to the processing of international applications, please contact the PCT Office Head at (819)-953-9712.