Receiving Office (RO)

Beneficiaries

The EPO can be used as RO when the applicant has (A151 EPC together R157 (1) EPC in accordance with A10 pct together R19.1.ai PCT and R19.1.a.ii PCT together A2.xii PCT):

• the nationality of a State Party to both the EPC and the PCT or
• home or headquarters in a State party to both the EPC and the PCT.

Today, all EPC member states are also members of the PCT.

State Code	state	PCT Membership	CBE membership
AE	United Arab Emirates	10/03/1999
AG	Antigua and Barbuda	17/03/2000
AL	albania	04/10/1995	01/05/2010
AM	armenia	25/12/1991
AO	angola	27/12/2007
AT	austria	23/04/1979	01/05/1979
TO	australia	31/03/1980
AZ	azerbaijan	25/12/1995
BA	Bosnia and Herzegovina	07/09/1996
BB	barbados	12/03/1985
BE	belgium	14/12/1981	07/10/1977
BF	Burkina Faso	21/03/1989
BG	bulgaria	21/05/1984	01/07/2002
BH	bahrain	18/03/2007
BJ	Benign	26/02/1987
BN	Brunei Darussalam	24/07/2012
BR	brazil	09/04/1978
BW	botswana	30/10/2003
BY	belarus	25/12/1991
BZ	belize	17/06/2000
IT	Canada	02/01/1990
CF	Central African Republic	24/01/1978
CG	Congo	24/01/1978
CH	switzerland	24/01/1978	07/10/1977
THIS	Ivory Coast	30/04/1991
CL	chile	02/06/2009
CM	cameroon	24/01/1978
CN	china	01/01/1994
CO	colombia	28/02/2001
CR	Costa Rica	03/08/1999
CU	Cuba	16/07/1996
CY	cyprus	01/04/1998	01/04/1998
CZ	Czech Republic	01/01/1993	01/07/2002
OF	germany	24/01/1978	07/10/1977
DK	denmark	01/12/1978	01/01/1990
DM	dominica	07/08/1999
DO	Dominican Republic	28/05/2007
DZ	algeria	08/03/2000
EC	ecuador	07/05/2001
EE	estonia	24/08/1994	01/07/2002
EG	egypt	06/09/2003
ES	spain	16/11/1989	01/10/1986
FI	finland	01/10/1980	01/03/1996
EN	la France	25/02/1978	07/10/1977
GA	Gabon	24/01/1978
GB	United Kingdom	24/01/1978	07/10/1977
GD	grenada	22/09/1998
GE	georgia	25/12/1991
GH	Ghana	26/02/1997
GM	gambia	09/12/1997
GN	guinea	27/05/1991
GQ	Equatorial Guinea	17/07/2001
GR	greece	09/10/1990	01/10/1986
GT	Guatemala	14/10/2006
GW	Guinea-Bissau	12/12/1997
HN	Honduras	20/06/2006
HR	croatia	01/07/1998	01/01/2008
HU	hungary	27/06/1980	01/01/2003
ID	indonesia	05/09/1997
IE	ireland	01/08/1992	01/08/1992
HE	Israel	01/06/1996
IN	india	07/12/1998
IR	Islamic Republic of Iran	04/10/2013
IS	iceland	23/03/1995	01/11/2004
IT	italy	28/03/1985	01/12/1978
JP	japan	01/10/1978
KE	Kenya	08/06/1994
KG	kyrgyzstan	25/12/1991
KM	Comoros	03/04/2005
KN	Saint Kitts and Nevis	27/10/2005
KP	Democratic People's Republic of Korea	08/07/1980
KR	Republic of Korea	10/08/1984
KZ	kazakhstan	25/12/1991
THE	Lao People's Democratic Republic	14/06/2006
LC	Saint Lucia	30/08/1996
LI	liechtenstein	19/03/1980	01/04/1980
LK	Sri Lanka	26/02/1982
LR	Liberia	27/08/1994
LS	Lesotho	21/10/1995
LT	lithuania	05/07/1994	01/12/2004
READ	luxembourg	30/04/1978	07/10/1977
LV	latvia	07/09/1993	01/07/2005
LY	Libya	15/09/2005
MY	Morocco	08/10/1999
MC	Monaco	22/06/1979	01/12/1991
MD	Republic of Moldova	25/12/1991
ME	Montenegro	03/06/2006
MG	Madagascar	24/01/1978
MK	The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	10/08/1995	01/01/2009
ML	Mali	19/10/1984
MN	mongolia	27/05/1991
MR	mauritania	13/04/1983
MT	malta	01/03/2007
MW	Malawi	24/01/1978
MX	mexico	01/01/1995
MY	malaysia	16/08/2006
MZ	mozambique	18/05/2000
N / A	namibia	01/01/2004
BORN	Niger	21/03/1993
NG	Nigeria	08/05/2005
OR	Nicaragua	06/03/2003
NL	Netherlands	10/07/1979	07/10/1977
NO	norway	01/01/1980	01/01/2008
NZ	New Zealand	01/12/1992
OM	Oman	26/10/2001
PA	Panama	07/09/2012
PE	peru	06/06/2009
PG	Papua New Guinea	14/06/2003
PH	philippines	17/08/2001
PL	poland	25/12/1990	01/03/2004
PT	Portugal	24/11/1992	01/01/1992
QA	Qatar	03/08/2011
RO	romania	23/07/1979	01/03/2003
RS	serbia	01/02/1997	01/10/2010
UK	Russian Federation	29/03/1978
RW	Rwanda	31/08/2011
HER	Saudi Arabia	03/08/2013
SC	seychelles	07/11/2002
SD	sudan	16/04/1984
SE	sweden	17/05/1978	01/05/1978
SG	singapore	23/02/1995
IF	slovenia	01/03/1994	01/12/2002
SK	Slovakia	01/01/1993	01/07/2002
SL	Sierra Leone	17/06/1997
SM	San Marino	14/12/2004	01/07/2009
SN	Senegal	24/01/1978
ST	Sao Tome and Principe	03/07/2008
SV	El Salvador	17/08/2006
SY	Syrian Arab Republic	26/06/2003
SZ	swaziland	20/09/1994
TD	chad	24/01/1978
TG	Togo	24/01/1978
TH	thailand	24/12/2009
TJ	tajikistan	25/12/1991
TM	turkmenistan	25/12/1991
TN	tunisia	10/12/2001
TR	turkey	01/01/1996	01/11/2000
TT	Trinidad and Tobago	10/03/1994
TZ	United Republic of Tanzania	14/09/1999
UA	Ukraine	25/12/1991
U G	uganda	09/02/1995
US	United States of America	24/01/1978
UZ	uzbekistan	25/12/1991
VC	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	06/08/2002
VN	Viet Nam	10/03/1993
ZA	South Africa	16/03/1999
ZM	zambia	15/11/2001
ZW	Zimbabwe	11/06/1997

Conditions

Language of filing

The application must be filed in French, English or German (A151 EPC together R157 (2) EPC in accordance with A3.4.i PCT together R12.1.a PCT).

The provisions of theA14 (2) EPC allowing to deposit in any language do not work here (the PCT is not compatible with the PLT).

Number of copies

It is not necessary to file the PCT application in more than one copy (A151 EPC together R157 (2) EPC together " Decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 8 June 2006 concerning the number of copies required of the documents of the international patent application for which the European Patent Office (EPO) acts as an Office receiver within the meaning of the Treaty of Cooperation (PCT) », OG 2006, 439).

The same applies to all the documents mentioned in the list of the R3.3.a.ii PCT :

• a power (that is, a document designating an agent or a common representative),
• a copy of a general power,
• a priority document,
• a sequence listing in electronic form,
• a document relating to the payment of taxes, or
• any other document (to be specified in the list).

Transmission fee

The filing of a PCT application gives rise to the payment of a transmittal fee which must be paid under 1 month from the filing date (A151 EPC together R157 (4) EPC in accordance with R14.1.c PCT): 130 € (A2 (1) .18 RRT true A3.4.iv PCT together R14.1.b PCT).

deposit local

Principle

Normally, the deposit must be made directly to the EPO (A151 EPC together R157 (1) EPC): The Hague, Munich, Berlin.

The application can not be filed with an administration of a Contracting State if one wishes to have the EPO as RO (except in the case of national defense).

National Defense

Principle

The national legislation of a State may provide for specific provisions concerning national defense (eg first filing with the competent State authority, prior authorization) (A151 EPC together R157 (1) EPC together A75 (2) EPC) in accordance with A27.8 PCT).

Transmission to the EPO

If, for reasons of national defense, the applicant is obliged to file the PCT application with a competent authority of a Contracting State, the latter must transmit it to the EPO, a true RO, no later than 2 weeks before the expiry of the 13th month following the priority date (A151 EPC together R157 (3) EPC) so that it is able to fulfill its obligations.

Deposit methods

Paper filing (by mail or on site)

The filing of the international application may be made by paper (R89bis.1.a PCT andR2 (1) EPC)

Filing by fax

As for the filing of an international application, it is possible to fax the patent application to the EPO, on the fax of Berlin, Munich and The Hague ( 'Decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 20 February 2019 concerning the filing of patent applications and other documents by telefax", OJ 2019, A18).

Nevertheless, it is still necessary to transmit in one copy (A151 EPC together R157 (2) EPC) the hard copy of the PCT application documents and the request.

On the fax, it must be stated that the application documents were sent separately on paper ("Decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 20 February 2019 concerning the filing of patent applications and other documents by telefax", OJ 2019, A18 ).

If no paper documents are received, the EPO invites the applicant to produce these documents within a 2 months.

If the applicant does not respond to this invitation, the fax is deemed not received, that is, the demand is deemed withdrawn (R92.4.gi PCT).

Electronic filing

Electronic filing of deposit coins is possible

• via EPOLINE / CMS / online form (R89bis.1.a PCT together R2 (1) EPC and the " Decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 9 May 2018 concerning the electronic filing of documents », OJ 2018, A45);
• via the system ePCT-Filing (R89bis.1.a PCT together R2 (1) EPC and the " Decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 24 October 2014 concerning the filing, by means of ePCT-Filing, of international applications at the EPO as receiving Office », OY 2014, A107).

For subsequent filings (R89bis.2 PCT), it is possible to use the PCT-SFD plug-in from EPOLINE (" Notice from the European Patent Office dated 17 April 2014 concerning the online filing of PCT-produced material at a later date », OY 2014, A50).

PCT-Direct Comments Submission

Conditions

When filing an international application, it is possible to submit comments in response to the written opinion of the search report of the priority application (" Notice from the European Patent Office dated 8 March 2017 concerning the processing of informal comments on the results of previous searches by the EPO acting as International Searching Authority ("PCT Direct")«, OJ 2017, A21, point 2.2), if:

• the EPO is ISA for this international application;
• the EPO has completed the search report of the priority application.

Form

These comments should take the following form (" Notice from the European Patent Office dated 8 March 2017 concerning the processing of informal comments on the results of previous searches by the EPO acting as International Searching Authority ("PCT Direct")«, OJ 2017, A21, point 3):

• comments are submitted via a separate letter entitled " PCT-Direct / informal comments "
• a set of apparent trademark claims must be provided if necessary (as an appendix of comments, in the same PDF);
• the words "PCT Direct / informal comments" should be indicated:
  • in point 11 "Other items" in case of paper filing;
  • in the form of a remark in the case of electronic filing.
• the comments must be sufficient on their own (ie they must be understandable without having the research report or any other element of the file).

Treatment

Contrary to the previous practice (before 2017), the written opinion will refer to the PCT Direct letter and treat its content, insofar as it is relevant to the international search procedure.

The letters PCT Direct will be publicly available on WIPO's PATENTSCOPE portal.