Digital Certificates

WIPO Customer Certification Authority Information

A digital certificate is needed for a variety of services provided by WIPO and other Offices. The WIPO Customer Certification Authority (CA) issues certificates corresponding to the definition of low-level digital certificates in Annex F, Appendix II [PDF].

Using the certificate with PCT-SAFE

The certificate must be exported from the internet browser (see second user guide below) to digitally sign the international application and to create a secure connection with the receiving Office for the transmission of the international application package.

Using the certificate with ePCT

WIPO digital certificate is one of the strong authentication methods for ePCT, along with a one-time password generated by a standard app on a mobile device or sent by text message to your mobile telephone. For further details on strong authentication and on adding a digital certificate to your WIPO account please see the support topic on strong authentication.

Obtaining a certificate

1. Enrollment: either via your WIPO Account, see How to request a WIPO digital certificate in ePCT or through the Certificate enrollment page.
2. Processing: the request is generally processed within one business day (certificates are not issued automatically).
3. Approval: instructions for the certificate retrieval, or the notification of rejection, are sent to the e-mail address given during enrollment.
4. Retrieval: after approval, the certificate must be picked up within one week.

Important to know

• The WIPO Customer digital certificate may only be issued to individuals and not in the name of companies. Individuals working for companies are invited to apply for certificates using their own names.
• We expect the PCT user to have only one active certificate at any given time.
• Enrollment and pick-up must be done using the same computer and browser. Mozilla Firefox (recommended) and Internet Explorer are supported; other browsers, such as Chrome, Edge and Safari, will NOT work.
• It is strongly recommended to save a copy of your certificate (see second user guide below) for backup purposes.

How-to videos: short visual user guides on how to use your WIPO digital certificate

For assistance please contact the PCT eServices Help Desk.