WIPO

IPC/WG/8/8 ORIGINAL: English DATE: December 4, 2002

WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION
GENEVA

SPECIAL UNION FOR THE INTERNATIONAL PATENT CLASSIFICATION
(IPC UNION)

IPC REVISION WORKING GROUP

Eighth Session
Geneva, November 25 to December 5, 2002

INTRODUCTION

1. The IPC Revision Working Group (hereinafter referred to as "the Working Group") held its eighth session in Geneva from November 25 to December 4, 2002. The following members of the Working Group were represented at the session: Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America, African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI), European Patent Office (EPO) (21). The list of participants appears as Annex A to this report.

2. The session was opened by Mr. H. Wongel (EPO), Chairman of the Working Group. Mr. M. Makarov, Deputy Director, Office of the PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty), WIPO, welcomed the participants on behalf of the Director General.

OFFICERS

3. Mr. A. Farassopoulos (WIPO) acted as Secretary of the session.

ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA

4. The Working Group unanimously adopted the agenda, which appears as Annex B to this report.

DISCUSSIONS, CONCLUSIONS AND DECISIONS

5. As decided by the Governing Bodies of WIPO at their tenth series of meetings held from September 24 to October 2, 1979 (see document AB/X/32, paragraphs 51 and 52), the report of this session reflects only the conclusions of the Working Group (decisions, recommendations, opinions, etc.) and does not, in particular, reflect the statements made by any participant, except where a reservation in relation to any specific conclusion of the Working Group was expressed or repeated after the conclusion was reached.

report on the eighth session of the ad hoc ipc reform working group

6. The Working Group noted an oral report by the Secretariat on the eighth session of the ad hoc IPC Reform Working Group (see document IPC/REF/8/2). The Working Group was informed, in particular, of the approval of standard notes prescribing obligatory and non-obligatory multi-aspect classification, which should be used in the IPC revision and maintenance work, and of the decision to create, in each section of the IPC, a class for the residual matter, and to commence, in the future, systematic introduction in IPC subclasses of residual main groups where needed.

7. The Working Group noted that the ad hoc IPC Reform Working Group had supported the approach to the establishment of the French version of the advanced level of the reformed IPC, proposed by the International Bureau, including outsourcing the translation of amendments to the advanced level to external contractors and the elaboration of computer-assisted translation tools.

Ipc revision request

8. The Working Group considered an IPC revision request and a revision proposal relating to the field of traditional medicine (subclass A61K), submitted by the International Bureau on behalf of the Task Force on Classification of Traditional Knowledge (see document IPC/WG/8/2). The Secretariat explained that the IPC Committee of Experts had instructed the Task Force to prepare a revision request with a revision proposal for that field and to submit it to the Working Group for consideration.

9. The Secretariat informed the Working Group of the decision by the Committee that, in view of the urgency of the matter, the revision results should be available already in the next edition of the IPC.

10. The Working Group agreed to include the submitted proposal in the IPC revision program as a new project and established the time frame for its consideration (see Annex C to this report).

11. The Working Group noted the short time available for the completion of the project until the publication of the next edition of the IPC, and, in order to facilitate consideration of the project, compiled the following list of questions which should be taken into consideration by the members of the Working Group when commenting on the proposal:

(a) the use of the last place rule or the first place rule in the field of traditional medicine;

(b) the presentation of common names of plants in the classification scheme (in brackets, with the expression i.e. or otherwise);

(c) an appropriate arrangement of groups in the scheme;

(d) a necessary number of new groups in light of the volume of the covered documentation;

(e) the meaning of the term "plant-like material";

(f) the need for an indexing scheme in the field of traditional medicine.

elaboration of classification definitions

12. The Working Group considered the Guidelines for Drafting Classification Definitions, provisionally approved at its seventh session, in light of the comments submitted by Sweden and the United States of America (see Annexes I and II, respectively, to document IPC/WG/8/3). The Working Group finally approved those Guidelines with some amendments (see Annex F to this report) and recommended to the IPC Committee of Experts their adoption.

13. Based on the procedure for the creation of classification definitions (see Annex F to document IPC/WG/5/3, paragraph 9), the Working Group agreed to apply the following criteria when selecting a subclass for a new definition project:

(a) subclasses undergoing a revision or maintenance procedure;

(b) overlapping subclasses with borderlines that are not well defined by the current notes;

(c) residual subclasses, in particular with residual subject matter that is not well defined;

(d) subclasses containing a large number of inconsistently classified documents;

(e) very active subclasses.

14. A subclass satisfying more than one of the above criteria should receive the highest priority.

15. Although a formal request for introducing a new definition project was not needed, the proposing office should indicate the criteria applicable to the proposed subclass.

16. On the other hand, the lowest priority should be given to the following subclasses:

(a) subclasses with well-defined scope;

(b) subclasses having only a small amount of overlap or well-defined borderlines;

(c) non-active subclasses.

17. Based on the above criteria, the Working Group decided to add two new D projects to the IPC definition program relating to the following subclasses: G11B (Japan) and H02P (EPO).

18. Following the recommendation of the Definition Task Force, the Working Group approved projects D 001, D 003 and D 030, completed in their English version. Their final versions should be submitted by Rapporteurs as separate proposals on the IPC e-forum by January 15, 2003. The following volunteering offices were appointed to prepare the French version of these projects:

•  France for project D 001;
  
•  EPO for project D 030;
  
•  Switzerland for project D 003.

19. In order to accelerate the discussion of the remaining definition projects on the e-forum, comments were invited on those projects for which a rapporteur proposal was lately submitted, by February 1, 2003. Rapporteurs were invited to submit revised proposals on the other projects by February 1, 2003, taking into account the comments already submitted. The International Bureau was invited to regularly update the deadlines and the actions needed for each project on the e-forum and the IPC calendar.

20. When considering a project to be close to completion, rapporteurs were invited to indicate in the message part of the e-forum that the corresponding project is ready for approval. In such cases, the International Bureau would set a deadline for electronic approval following the adopted procedure. If a project is approved electronically, it would be forwarded to the ninth session of the Working Group for formal approval. If it is not approved electronically, either a new round of comments would be requested by the rapporteur or the project would be forwarded to the Definition Task Force meeting for consideration.

21. In the course of the discussions of some definitions projects, useful conclusions were drawn concerning a future revision or maintenance of the corresponding subclass. It was agreed that those conclusions should be collected by the rapporteurs of the projects into an annex separate from the definition project file, after completion of the project.

22. In order to identify ways for a more efficient consideration of the definition projects, a new conference was set up on the IPC webforum http://webforum.wipo.int/ipc called "IPC definition." The Secretariat would post introductory messages by December 15, 2002, to initiate discussions. The members of the Working Group were invited to actively participate in informal discussions on the IPC Webforum. By January 15, 2003, the Secretariat would prepare a summary of discussions and would study the ways of implementing a more efficient procedure of the consideration of definition projects.

23. The Secretariat made a demonstration of a "module" developed in the framework of the CLAIMS project which provides for the collection of all material useful for drafting definitions of a particular subclass (for example, notes, references, reverse references). The Working Group agreed that such a tool would be very useful when drafting new definition proposals. The Secretariat indicated that this tool could be ready by January 2003, and that material concerning all the subclasses of the IPC would be available on the IBIS Web site.

24. Furthermore, the Secretariat indicated that a new input interface for classification definitions, which could permit the conversion of definitions into XML format, was near completion. This interface was based on the Word format and was very similar to the format for drafting definitions already used. When ready, this interface would be available on the IPC Web site, with links from the IPC e-forum.

rearrangement of subclass indexes

25. Discussions were based on document IPC/WG/8/4, containing a summary of discussions of the Working Group on the rearrangement of subclass indexes, at its seventh session. It was reconfirmed that the outcome of this rearrangement would be a secondary sorting key allowing interested users to view main groups in the standardized sequence as an alternative to the existing sequence. To avoid confusion in the preparation of proposals, the Working Group agreed to modify the title of this task to "Rearrangement of main groups according to the standardized sequence."

26. In order to facilitate the drafting of new proposals, the International Bureau would create Excel files containing the main groups of all IPC subclasses. These files would be available for downloading by January 15, 2003, on the IBIS Web site https://www.wipo.int/ibis/index.html.

27. The Working Group considered a number of proposals contained in compilations, distributed during the meeting, of proposals already submitted to the e-forum. The Working Group approved the proposals on rearranging of main groups in subclasses A44B, A61B, B61L, B81B, B81C, B82B, E01D, F04C and F23G. It was noted that the main groups in subclass F23B were already in the standardized order.

28. On the basis of its discussions, the Working Group made the following recommendations to the rapporteurs for preparing proposals:

(a) existing limiting references or precedence references should be considered when establishing the rearranged order of main groups. References in subgroups pointing to other main groups or subgroups of the same subclass are equally important;

(b) when considering main groups with multipart titles, dividing the group into its constituent parts and presenting it in two (or more) different places should be avoided. If such division was deemed necessary, the reasons should be explained;

(c) the proposal should contain all main groups, and not only the groups appearing in the current subclass index. Only references or precedence references within the subclass should be included, even if they appeared in subgroups, in order to justify the proposed sequence.

29. The Delegation of the United States of America volunteered to prepare and submit to the revision listserver guidelines on the rearrangement of the main groups, by February 1, 2003.

30. The Working Group discussed whether subheadings or guide headings contained in several proposals should appear in the final presentation of the IPC in the rearranged order of main groups. In the opinion of the majority of Delegations, this was not absolutely necessary and would require considerable manual work, thus not allowing completion of the project for all IPC subclasses in time for the next edition of the IPC. The Working Group agreed that this issue should finally be solved at the ninth session of the Working Group in light of the "Guidelines" to be submitted by the United States of America.

31. After considering the existing proposals on the subclasses F23C, G01M, G01N, H01L and H04B, the Working Group agreed that they should be redrafted, taking into account the above recommendations and the guidelines to be submitted.

32. Furthermore, in respect of the following subclasses, the Working Group made additional comments:

Subclass A61G - the Rapporteur was asked to study the problem of group 7/00 appearing in two places;

Subclass A61N - the Rapporteur was invited to give reasons for the order chosen;

Subclass B66B - the Rapporteur was invited to review the rearrangement, especially in respect of groups 9/00, 5/00 and 3/00, taking into account the existing references in the subclass;

Subclass F01C - the Rapporteur was invited to reconsider the position of groups 17/00 and 19/00, in particular whether they should appear after group 9/00.

33. The Working Group noted that the International Bureau would create on the e-forum new projects for rearranging main groups (projects R), separate from the definition projects. New subclasses were introduced in the program of the Working Group for rearranging main groups and corresponding rapporteurs were appointed (see Annex G to this report). Rapporteurs were requested to submit their proposals by March 1, 2003. Comments were invited by April 1, 2003, and consequently, rapporteur reports by May 1, 2003.

checking of notes and references in the reformed ipc

34. The Working Group considered the results of checking of complex cases of redirected references, carried out by Ireland, Sweden and the EPO (see document IPC/WG/8/5) and noted that a major part of complex cases could be solved by moving of respective entries between the core and advanced levels of the reformed IPC. The Working Group also noted that the list of complex cases, prepared by the International Bureau, was incomplete.

35. The Secretariat informed the Working Group that, following the results of studies of the distribution of IPC groups between the core and the advanced levels in the last place rule and the first place rule areas, conducted by the EPO and the International Bureau and approved by the ad hoc IPC Reform Working Group (see document IPC/REF/8/2, paragraphs 30 to 37), the International Bureau would carry out the rearrangement of groups in those areas.

36. Thereafter, the International Bureau would repeat the procedure of automatic repointing of references from core level entries to advanced level entries and would make the results available on the IBIS Web site in January 2003. In addition to the complete table of redirected references, tables containing special types of redirected references, namely, X-type references and P-type references (see document IPC/WG/7/7, paragraph 23) would also be presented. The Secretariat explained that the number of redirected references was expected to be smaller than the number resulting from the first application of the procedure of automatic repointing, as had been reported to the seventh session of the Working Group.

37. The Secretariat indicated that a list of complex cases would be reconsidered and completed using comprehensive searching in the text of the IPC and that the International Bureau would propose solutions for each complex case on the basis of the recommendations made by Ireland, Sweden and the EPO (see paragraph 34, above).

38. With regard to X-type references, the Working Group agreed that they could be retained in the core level of the IPC, with the exception of references which, after the redirection, pointed to the source entries themselves or represented, at the same time, P-type references. The Working Group agreed that the former type references should be deleted in the core level and that a solution for the latter type references could be the moving of respective entries between the core and the advanced levels or the conversion of P-type references into limiting references. The Working Group indicated that X-type references retained in the core level should have a special marking and their existence in the core level should be reflected in the Guide to the IPC.

39. With regard to P-type references, the Working Group agreed that they could be retained in the core level. The Working Group indicated, however, that they should be carefully checked, since their retention could lead to a potential risk of distorting the scope of affected entries.

40. The Working Group noted a potential problem with references between advanced level entries, identified by several offices, which, after the division of the IPC into the core and the advanced levels, could lead to the incompatibility of the two levels, since core level entries corresponding to advanced level entries would have a different scope than in the current IPC. The Working Group requested the International Bureau to investigate the possibility of the automatic detection of such references and to prepare a report for consideration at the next session of the Working Group.

41. Finally, the Working Group expressed its thanks to Ireland for having done significant work on checking of all redirected references in sections A and C and invited its members to submit comments on the conclusions made by Ireland, taking into account the results of the second procedure of automatic repointing of references from core level entries to advanced level entries.

42. A plan of actions with respect to checking of notes and references in the reformed IPC, approved by the Working Group, appears in Annex H to this report.

conversion of indexing schemes to classification schemes

43. The Working Group noted that the majority of double-purpose schemes in the IPC provided for the use of classification symbols for indexing of ingredients of chemical mixtures or compositions. The Working Group also noted that the following principle had been adopted by the IPC Committee of Experts for classifying mixtures in the reformed IPC: the mixture as a whole should be classified as invention information and constituents of the mixture should be classified as additional information using existing classification schemes (see document IPC/CE/30/11, paragraph 36(f)).

44. The Working Group agreed that a standardized approach to classifying of chemical mixtures or compositions and their ingredients should be elaborated and accepted, with gratitude, an offer made by the Delegation of Sweden to prepare a standardized note which could be applicable as a basis for the classification of chemical mixtures or compositions. Sweden was invited to submit a proposal concerning such a note by January 15, 2003. Comments on the proposal were requested by February 15, 2003, and the rapporteur report from Sweden by March 15, 2003.

45. Offices responsible for the preparation of proposals relating to double-purpose schemes (see Annex I to this report, where project numbers are indicated for each scheme) were requested to use the standardized note as a basis for their proposals and to submit modified proposals, when necessary, by May 1, 2003.

46. The Working Group agreed to abolish the double-purpose use of the classification symbol B63B 35/79 since a more appropriate approach to the classification of the subject matter in question would be subdivision of that classification group.

47. The Working Group agreed that the double-purpose use of the classification symbols F16H 48/06 to 48/30, 59/00 and 63/00 should be converted to the use of those symbols for multiple classification. In order to provide a consistent approach to the use of classification schemes for indicating additional information, the Working Group decided to reconsider, at its next session, the use of the classification symbols F16H 48/06 to 48/30, 59/00 and 63/00 on the basis of a standardized note for the classification of chemical mixtures or compositions to be proposed by Sweden (see paragraph 44, above).

48. The Working Group agreed to abolish the use of classification symbols G10L 15/02 to 15/22 as a double-purpose scheme since the more appropriate approach to classifying in this area would be the subdivision of main group G10L 17/00 in the advanced level of the IPC.

49. The Working Group agreed to retain the indexing scheme A01D 101:00, in view of its potential high use, but to limit its applicability to main group A01D 34/00 since the similar EEC code applied internally at the EPO was limited to this main group.

50. The Working Group agreed to abolish the indexing scheme A01D 151:00, in view of its low use and since the information indicated by the indexing scheme could be reflected by the use of main group A01D 34/00 for additional classification.

51. The Working Group agreed to retain the indexing scheme A61K 101:00, 103:00 in view of its potential usefulness.

52. The Working Group agreed to abolish the indexing scheme B62D 151:00 to 155:00, in view of its low use and because its conversion into a classification scheme was not needed in light of Note (1) following group B62D 6/00.

53. In light of the Guidelines for the Conversion of Existing IPC Indexing Schemes Into Classification Schemes, the Working Group agreed to convert the indexing scheme F16H 101:00 to 109:00 into a classification scheme. Having considered the Rapporteur's proposal to this effect (see Annex 6 to project file IPC/H 031/02), the Working Group decided to delete the indexing codes F16H 101:00 to 109:00 and to create the classification groups F16H 61/66, 61/662, 61/664 and 61/70 which would be used for the classification of invention and additional information (see the said Annex 6). Comments were invited, by March 15, 2003, on the desirability of the creation of the proposed group F16H 61/68, in light of its intended scope, and of subgroups of the said group. The EPO was requested to submit a rapporteur report on this matter, by May 1, 2003.

54. The Working Group agreed to abolish the indexing scheme G10L 101:00 in view of its low use and the impossibility of its conversion to a classification scheme.

55. The Working Group confirmed the recommendations by the ad hoc IPC Reform Working Group to retain the following indexing schemes: B62D 101:00 to 137:00, C10N, C22C 101:00 to 121:00, F23C 101:00, H01R 101:00 to 107:00 and H04N 101:00.

56. The Working Group confirmed the recommendations by the ad hoc IPC Reform Working Group to abolish the following indexing schemes: A01D 103:00, A63B 101:00 to 103:00, B65D 101:00, B65D 111:00 to 113:00, E04B 101:00, E04B 103:00, G01B 101:00 to 121:00, G06F 101:00 and H01L 101:00. The Working group agreed that, in light of the Guidelines for the Conversion of Existing IPC Indexing Schemes into Classification Schemes, the conversion of those indexing schemes was not possible.

57. With regard to the indexing scheme G06F 151:00 to 171:00, the Working Group agreed to abolish the indexing codes G06F 163:00 to 171:00, but felt that the inclusion of the indexing codes G06F 151:00 to 161:00 into the classification scheme of subclass G06F was possible. The EPO was invited to investigate whether such an inclusion could be made in time for the publication of the next edition of the IPC and to submit the results of the study by March 1, 2003. Comments on the study were requested by April 15, 2003, and the rapporteur report from the EPO by May 15, 2003.

58. The distribution of work relating to separate indexing schemes is shown in Annex I to this report, where project numbers are indicated for each scheme. Offices were requested to submit initial proposals by March 1, 2003. Comments on the proposals were invited by April 1, 2003, and the rapporteur reports by May 1, 2003.

introduction of illustrating chemical formulae in the electronic layer of the ipc

59. The Working Group noted the current status of the project relating to the introduction of illustrating chemical formulae in the electronic layer of the IPC, as shown in document IPC/WG/8/6 and Annex thereto. The Working Group realized that for many chemical areas of the IPC additional comments on rapporteur reports had been submitted by participating offices.

60. Having noted that a very large amount of material had been submitted in the course of the project by participating offices in the form of comments and rapporteur reports and the significant work that the review of the material would require, the Working Group considered possible ways for completing the project in a practical manner. The Working Group agreed that a simplified procedure elaborated at the seventh session of the Working Group (see document IPC/WG/7/7, paragraphs 34 and 35) would be sufficient for the successful completion of the project.

61. The Working Group instructed the offices-rapporteurs responsible for various chemical areas to review corresponding parts of the original collection of chemical formulae provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) and all the comments and proposals made in relation to those parts, and to select the most appropriate formulae from those available. The distribution of work relating to chemical illustrating formulae and the material available are shown in Annex J to this report.

62. The participating offices were requested to avoid submitting further comments on the collection of chemical formulae, except when absolutely necessary, for example, when evident errors were discovered.

63. The Secretariat informed the Working Group that, in order to provide support to the work of the offices-rapporteurs, the International Bureau would prepare and publish on the IBIS Web site, by January 15, 2003, consolidated information in tabular form, showing, for each chemical area involved, formulae originally provided by KIPO for each IPC group and all corrected or newly proposed formulae submitted by the participating offices at different stages of the project. Those consolidated tables should be used by the offices-rapporteurs in making a final decision with regard to the formulae to be selected.

64. The offices-rapporteurs were invited to submit their proposals by May 1, 2003, so as to allow the Working Group, at its next session, to select the parts of the collection of chemical formulae which were ready for introduction in the IPC.

65. The Working Group reviewed the rules for the presentation of chemical formulae, compiled at its seventh session (see document IPC/WG/7/7, paragraph 37) and agreed on certain changes to those rules based on the experience accumulated. The updated rules for the presentation of chemical formulae are given in Annex K to this report.

66. The offices-rapporteurs were reminded that it was allowed to use any chemical drawing program for the preparation of the structural formulae, that the formulae should be presented in structural format and that other image formats should be avoided.

67. The Secretariat informed the Working Group that standardization of the presentation of chemical formulae in the IPC would be later carried out under the CLAIMS project. Since some textual information could be included with certain formulae, the International Bureau was requested to provide the possibility of displaying this information in the IPC separate from the formula.

68. The Working Group agreed that currently the scope of the project should be limited to the original collection of formulae provided by KIPO, so as to obtain a comprehensive collection of formulae on time for the publication of the next edition of the IPC, although the offices-rapporteurs could propose illustrating formulae for those IPC groups where they were missing in the original collection by KIPO.

69. Finally, the Working Group indicated that it would be desirable in the future to provide chemical illustrating formulae for more IPC groups where it was felt necessary.

ipc revision program

70. The Working Group noted that the Trilateral Offices had completed the revision work related to the following suspended projects: C 393, C 394, C 395, C 411 and C 420. Proposals on the above projects have been submitted on the e-forum. The Working Group invited comments on those proposals. Deadlines for comments and for rapporteur reports are indicated in Annex C to this report.

71. The Working Group discussed 11 pending IPC revision projects and approved amendments relating to those projects (see Annexes 1 to 14 to this report). The decisions of the Working Group with respect to those projects are listed in Annex C to this report, and further information with respect to some of these decisions is given in paragraph 73, below. A list indicating to which classes or subclasses amendments have been approved during the revision period appears as Annex D to this report. Changes to amendments approved at earlier sessions are indicated in Annex E to this report.

72. The Working Group had before it, in particular, document IPC/WG/7/7 and the relevant project files.

73. The Working Group made the following observations, in addition to the decisions set forth in Annex C to this report, with respect to the IPC revision projects:

Project C 355 (mechanical) - In the framework of the related definition project D 015, the Working Group noted that the title of subclass B 60 T was inaccurate and that Sweden, in Annex 13 to project file IPC/D 015/00, had proposed the following title:

"Vehicle brake control systems or parts thereof; brake control systems, or parts thereof, in general (electrodynamic brake, or parts thereof, actuators, F16D); arrangement of braking elements on land vehicles (on cycles B62L); portable devices for preventing unwanted movement of vehicles; vehicle modifications to facilitate cooling of brakes."

Comments were invited on the proposed title by January 15, 2003. The Rapporteur was invited to submit a revised title by January 30, 2003, which would be forwarded to the thirty-second session of the Committee of Experts for adoption in the framework of Project C 355.

Project C 371 (mechanical) - The Working Group agreed to introduce the first place priority rule in subclass F23B (see Annex 1E to this report). It was also agreed to keep precedence references within the subclass as an additional help to the users, although they were unnecessary in view of that rule. It was decided to draw the attention of the IPC Committee of Experts to this matter.

The Working Group approved the drawings provided by Sweden for illustrating the contents of the subclass. It was noted that the International Bureau would work out a technical solution for presenting, in the electronic layer of the IPC, chemical formulae and drawings with an explanatory text, taking into account the need to display the text in different languages, and would report on this matter at the ninth session of the Working Group with a demonstration of a prototype. It was furthermore agreed that drawings should be submitted in a format permitting their editing and that the International Bureau should decide on the exact format to be used.

Project C 422 (chemical) - The Working Group approved a number of amendments to the new subclass C40B (see Annex 14 to this report).

Comments were invited on (see the said Annex 14, unless otherwise indicated):

•  should the expression "e.g." in the wording of group 1/00 be replaced by the expression "i.e.";
•  was the wording of group 7/02 correct after removal of the expression "presented by" from the proposed wording (see project file IPC/C 422/00, Annex 69) and whether the expression "displayed by" covered the former expression;
•  should group 7/12 cover "saccharides" and, if that were the case, should an additional subgroup covering "polysaccharides" be created;
•  whether the expression "i.e." was appropriate in the wording of group 9/06, in light of its intended scope, or whether other biochemical methods should be covered by this group;
•  whether the term "solution" should be included in the wording of group 9/08 to make it clear that this group covers "synthesis in solutions";
•  which of the two alternatives for classifying "tags" and "linkers" indicated by the Rapporteur (see project file IPC/C 422/00, Annex 68, pages 2 and 3, and Annex 69, proposed groups 9/102 to 9/112, 9/122, 9/124, 13/00 and 15/00) was preferable.

Project C 424 (electrical) - the Working Group noted that a revision proposal relating to business methods was under elaboration by the Trilateral Offices and would be submitted before the next session of the Working Group.

introduction of new catchwords relating to completed projects

74. Discussions were based on documents IPC/WG/8/7 and on Annex 74 of project file IPC/C 413/98 containing proposals for the introduction of new catchwords in the official catchword indexes.

75. The Working Group approved, with some amendments, the proposals submitted by the United Kingdom relating to Projects C 355, C 363, and C 413 in both English and French versions, and by Germany relating to Project C 367 in English. Furthermore, the French version of the already approved catchwords relating to Project C 419, submitted by the Russian Federation, was also approved. France volunteered to prepare the French version of the approved catchwords relating to Project C 367 for the ninth session of the Working Group.

STATUS OF THE WORK

76. The Chair assessed the status of the Tasks assigned to the Working Group and stated that 11 revision projects on the agenda of this session (see Annex B to this report) had been dealt with in a satisfactory way and seven projects had been completed. The Chair indicated that Annex C to this report gave the status of each revision project and brief information on actions to follow. He also pointed out that, at this session, the Working Group had continued an important work program of the implementation of the results of IPC reform, including elaboration of classification definitions, checking notes and references for the reformed IPC, conversion of indexing schemes to classification schemes and introduction of illustrating chemical formulae in the electronic layer of the IPC, and had achieved good progress on most of those tasks. The Chair specified that, in the framework of the implementation of the results of the IPC reform, the Working Group, at this session, had completed three definition projects, 20 hybrid systems projects and nine projects on the rearrangement of main groups in subclasses of the IPC.

NEXT SESSION OF THE WORKING GROUP

77. The Working Group noted the tentative dates for its ninth session: June 2 to 13, 2003.

78. The Working Group also noted that the distribution of working time at its ninth session between the chemical, electrical and mechanical fields would be indicated in the draft agenda of the session, which would be submitted to industrial property offices together with the invitation to participate in the session.

79. The Working Group agreed that, in order to establish early the most efficient distribution of working time at its ninth session, the International Bureau should submit to the IPC revision listserver, by January 15, 2003, a proposal on the distribution of working time and invite comments on the proposal so as to achieve agreement of the members of the Working Group on this matter by electronic correspondence.