WIPO

WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION
GENEVA

INTERNATIONAL PATENT COOPERATION UNION
(PCT UNION)

ASSEMBLY

Twenty-Ninth (17^th Extraordinary) Session
Geneva, September 25 to October 3, 2000

PROPOSED AMENDMENT OF THE SCHEDULE OF FEES ANNEXED TO THE REGULATIONS UNDER THE PCT; PROPOSED RECTIFICATION OF THE FRENCH TEXT OF PCT RULE 26bis.2(c)

Memorandum of the Director General

Proposed reduction in maximum number of designation fees payable

1. Pursuant to Rule 15.1 of the Regulations under the PCT, each international application is subject to the payment of a fee for the benefit of the International Bureau consisting of a basic fee and as many designation fees as there are national and regional patents sought by the applicant under Rule 4.9(a). Rule 15.1 also provides that the Schedule of Fees annexed to the Regulations may indicate a maximum number of designation fees payable. Rule 15.2(a) further provides that the amount of the designation fee is to be set out in the Schedule of Fees. At present, item 2 of the Schedule of Fees provides for an amount of 140 Swiss francs per designation and for a maximum of 8 designation fees payable.

2. At its 27th session, held in Geneva from September 20 to 29, 1999, the Assembly decided, with effect from January 1, 2000, to decrease the designation fee from 150 Swiss francs to 140 Swiss francs and to reduce the maximum number of designation fees payable from 10 to 8.

3. As the International Bureau and other Offices are able to take advantage of modern technology to computerize their processing of international applications, the cost of processing international applications depends less and less on the number of designations made in applications. Thus, as modern technology is increasingly applied to expedite the processing of international applications, the maximum number of designation fees payable may be progressively decreased.

4. It is therefore proposed to decrease, with effect from January 1, 2001, the maximum number of designation fees payable from 8 to 6, which would mean that applicants could designate all PCT Contracting States by paying only 6 designation fees. In comparison to the current fees, the proposed fee reduction would decrease, on average, the corresponding fee income of the International Bureau by some 12%.

5. The proposed fee reduction would confer greater benefit to applicants who maximize the number of their designations. In the first five months of 2000, the maximum number of payable designation fees (currently 8) were paid in about 68% of all PCT applications filed. Thus, more than two thirds of all PCT applications can be expected to benefit from an 16.8% decrease in the international fee as a result of the proposed fee reduction.

6. For applicants who already benefit from either the 75% reduction of the international fee for PCT applications filed by natural persons from certain States or the reduction of the international fee for using the PCT-EASY software (see items 4 and 5 in the Schedule of Fees), the proposed fee reduction would further reduce the overall cost of obtaining patent protection using the PCT.

7. The proposed fee reduction would require amendment of the Schedule of Fees as shown in the Annex to this document. Text proposed to be deleted is struck through and text proposed to be added is underlined.

Proposed rectification of the French text of PCT Rule 26bis.2(c)

In the course of the preparation of the updated text, as of January 1, 2000, of the brochure containing the text of the PCT and Regulations, the International Bureau noticed that an obvious mistake in the French text of Rule 26bis.2(c) required correction as follows. In the first sentence, the words "préparation technique de la demande internationale" should be replaced by the words "préparation technique de la publication internationale ".

[Annex follows]

ANNEX

PROPOSED AMENDMENT OF THE REGULATIONS UNDER THE PCT

SCHEDULE OF FEES
(as proposed to be amended with effect from January 1, 2001)

Fees	Amounts
1. Basic Fee: (Rule 15.2(a)) (a) if the international application contains not more than 30 sheets	650 Swiss francs
(b) if the international application contains more than 30 sheets	650 Swiss francs plus 15 Swiss francs for each sheet in excess of 30 sheets
2. Designation Fee: (Rule 15.2(a)) (a) for designations made under Rule 4.9(a)	140 Swiss francs per designation, provided that any designation made under Rule 4.9(a) in excess of 8 6 shall not require the payment of a designation fee
(b) for designations made under Rule 4.9(b) and confirmed under Rule 4.9(c)	140 Swiss francs per designation
3. Handling Fee: (Rule 57.2(a))	233 Swiss francs
Reductions 4. The total amount of the fees payable under items 1 and 2(a) is reduced by 200 Swiss francs if the international application is, in accordance with and to the extent provided for in the Administrative Instructions, filed on paper together with a copy thereof in electronic form. 5. All fees payable (where applicable, as reduced under item 4) are reduced by 75% for international applications filed by any applicant who is a natural person and who is a national of and resides in a State whose per capita national income is below US$3,000 (according to the average per capita national income figures used by the United Nations for determining its scale of assessments for the contributions payable for the years 1995, 1996 and 1997); if there are several applicants, each must satisfy those criteria.

[End of Annex and of document]