PCT Receiving Office Guidelines

Chapter VI: Article 14 Check and Other Formal Requirements

Matter Appearing Not to be Part of the International Application

148. Apart from the request form (Rule 4.19), the PCT makes no provision for matter which does not appear to be a part of the international application such as appendices or annexes. Where such matter is submitted together with the international application, the receiving Office may contact the applicant by telephone or invite the applicant to clarify within a reasonable time limit whether these sheets are intended to be part of the international application. If the sheets are intended to be part of the application, they should be renumbered so as to comply with Section 207 under a heading which makes their status clear (paragraphs 139 and 140). If the applicant has not confirmed within the time limit set in the invitation that the sheets concerned should form part of the international application, the sheets concerned may be disregarded and therefore should not be considered part of the record copy or be sent to the International Bureau (paragraph 294). As to sheets containing references to deposited biological material , see paragraphs 230 to 232. As to any separate electronic file disclosing nucleotide and/or amino acid sequence listing and/or table(s) relating theretosequences in a format other than ST.26 XML, see paragraphs 222A to 222C.