Competent ROs
Principle
The international application may be filed with the prescribed RO (Receiving Office) (A10 PCT).
This RO may normally be chosen by the applicant (R19.1.a PCT):
- The national office:
- of their residence (R19.1.a.i PCT) (or acting as such),
- of the contracting state of which they are a national (R19.1.a.ii PCT) (or acting as such),
- The International Bureau (R19.1.a.iii PCT).
Limitation of Competence Based on Language
National offices may condition their competence on certain filing languages only (R12.1.a PCT).
Agreements Between Offices
The PCT allows any state to delegate its RO competence to another office or an intergovernmental organization (R19.1.b PCT).
Either the delegation is complete (i.e., the state does not receive international applications) or partial (i.e., applicants have the choice between the national office of the state and the office with which an agreement exists, for example, the EPO and the INPI).
National Defense Requirements
If, for national defense requirements, a contracting state may provide that a national or resident may not file with any RO (A27.8 PCT).
It is the applicant’s responsibility to comply with this rule and not that of other offices (applicant’s guide §6.010).
Thus, each RO may refuse to process the filing of an international application as such (and therefore not transmit it to the IB and a copy to the ISA) (R22.1 PCT).
For example, in France, a first international application must be filed with the INPI (L614-18 CPI).
If national defense requirements prevent the RO from processing the international application as such, the RO must inform the IB as soon as possible within a time limit (administrative instructions 330.b) of 13 to 17 months from the priority date.
Multiple Applicants
In the case of multiple applicants, it is sufficient that the chosen RO is suitable for at least one of them (R19.2 PCT).
Incompetent ROs
Transmission to the IB
If the international application is filed with an office that is not competent according to the rules set out above, this application is deemed to have been received by that office on behalf of the IB (R19.4.a.i PCT).
In this situation, the receiving office will stamp the date of receipt on the application and transmit it to the IB (R19.4.b PCT).
Assignment of a Filing Date
The IB will then assign the filing date based on the stamped date on the application (R19.4.b PCT).
Importance of the Date of Receipt by the IB
The date of receipt by the IB remains important, as it determines certain deadlines for the payment of the required official fees for the filing (R19.4.c PCT).
The date to be considered for the payment of the following official fees is the actual date of receipt by the IB:
- transmittal official fee (R14.1.c PCT); filing official fee which is due (R15.3 PCT); search official fee (R16.1.f PCT).
Official Fees
This transmission may be subject to a transmittal official fee (R19.4.b PCT, €125 for the EPO Applicant’s Guide, Annex C, EP, €60 for the INPI Applicant’s Guide, Annex C, FR) even if the other official fees are refunded (Applicant’s Guide Volume 1, §6.035).
The required official fees are then to be paid to the IB (Applicant’s Guide Volume 1, §6.035).