Regulations under the PCT
Rule 46
Amendment of Claims before the International Bureau
The time limit referred to in Article 19 shall be two months from the date of transmittal of the international search report to the International Bureau and to the applicant by the International Searching Authority or 16 months from the priority date, whichever time limit expires later, provided that any amendment made under Article 19 which is received by the International Bureau after the expiration of the applicable time limit shall be considered to have been received by that Bureau on the last day of that time limit if it reaches it before the technical preparations for international publication have been completed.
Amendments made under Article 19 shall be filed directly with the International Bureau.
If the international application has been filed in a language other than the language in which it is published, any amendment made under Article 19 shall be in the language of publication.
(a) The statement referred to in Article 19(1) shall be in the language in which the international application is published and shall not exceed 500 words if in the English language or if translated into that language. The statement shall be identified as such by a heading, preferably by using the words “Statement under Article 19(1)” or their equivalent in the language of the statement.
(b) The statement shall contain no disparaging comments on the international search report or the relevance of citations contained in that report. Reference to citations, relevant to a given claim, contained in the international search report may be made only in connection with an amendment of that claim.
(a) The applicant, when making amendments under Article 19, shall be required to submit a replacement sheet or sheets containing a complete set of claims in replacement of all the claims originally filed.
(b) The replacement sheet or sheets shall be accompanied by a letter which:
(i) shall identify the claims which, on account of the amendments, differ from the claims originally filed, and shall draw attention to the differences between the claims originally filed and the claims as amended;
(ii) shall identify the claims originally filed which, on account of the amendments, are cancelled.
(iii) shall indicate the basis for the amendments in the application as filed.