PCT Receiving Office Guidelines

Chapter XI: Fees

Transfer of Fees

272. The receiving Office should, each month, transfer to the International Bureau and the International Searching Authority, respectively, moneys received as international filing fee (Rule 15.2(c) and (d)) and search fee (Rule 16.1(c) and (d)) during the preceding month. The receiving Office keeps for its own benefit any moneys received as transmittal fee (Rule 14) and late payment fee (Rule 16bis.2).

272A. Where the receiving Office is participating in the WIPO Fee Transfer Service, the transfers should be made according to the common timetable, established on an annual basis (paragraph 8 of Annex G of the Administrative Instructions). A list is transmitted to the International Bureau of the fees received in the preceding month or other agreed interval, together with any corrections that need to be made to fees transferred or omitted to be transferred in previous months (paragraph 13 of Annex G). If the fees are not to be "netted" against other fees owed to the Office, the total amount is then transferred to the International Bureau (paragraph 19 of Annex G). If the fees are to be netted, the Office waits to receive a "netting statement", indicating the amount due either to or by the Office (paragraphs 21 to 24 of Annex G).

273. When transferring the international filing fee and the search fee, the receiving Office should electronically communicate to the International Bureau at least the international application number, and the total amount of the international filing and search fees for each international application relevant to the transfer. This communication should preferably be in XML format; where the Office is using the relevant ePCT services to communicate the information, the data entered will be converted automatically to the appropriate format.