Regulations under the PCT

Rule 32
Extension of Effects of International Application to Certain Successor States

32.1       Extension of International Application to Successor State

(a)  The effects of any international application whose international filing date falls in the period defined in paragraph (b) are extended to a State (“the successor State”) whose territory was, before the independence of that State, part of the territory of a Contracting State designated in the international application which subsequently ceased to exist (“the predecessor State”), provided that the successor State has become a Contracting State through the deposit, with the Director General, of a declaration of continuation the effect of which is that the Treaty is applied by the successor State.

(b)  The period referred to in paragraph (a) starts on the day following the last day of the existence of the predecessor State and ends two months after the date on which the declaration referred to in paragraph (a) was notified by the Director General to the Governments of the States party to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. However, where the date of independence of the successor State is earlier than the date of the day following the last day of the existence of the predecessor State, the successor State may declare that the said period starts on the date of its independence; such a declaration shall be made together with the declaration referred to in paragraph (a) and shall specify the date of independence.

(c)  Information on any international application whose filing date falls within the applicable period under paragraph (b) and whose effect is extended to the successor State shall be published by the International Bureau in the Gazette.

32.2       Effects of Extension to Successor State

(a)  Where the effects of the international application are extended to the successor State in accordance with Rule 32.1,

(i)  the successor State shall be considered as having been designated in the international application, and

(ii)  the applicable time limit under Article 22 or 39(1) in relation to that State shall be extended until the expiration of at least six months from the date of the publication of the information under Rule 32.1(c).

(b)  The successor State may fix a time limit which expires later than that provided in paragraph (a)(ii).  The International Bureau shall publish information on such time limits in the Gazette.