PCT Receiving Office Guidelines

Chapter IV: Article 11(1) Check: Requirements for International Filing Date

Receipt of Purported International Application

35. Marking. Upon receipt of papers purporting to be an international application, the receiving Office indelibly marks the date of actual receipt in the space provided on the last sheet of the request. It then assigns the international application number according to Section 307 and marks that number in the space provided on the first sheet of the request and in the upper right-hand corner of each sheet of the purported international application (Section 308(a) and (b)). Where the request form was not used by the applicant, the receiving Office proceeds as outlined in paragraph 75A. The receiving Office marks the date of receipt also on the fee calculation sheet, in the space provided for that purpose, if such sheet has been submitted.

36. The receiving Office may notify the applicant (Form PCT/RO/125 may be used for this purpose) of the receipt of the purported international application (Section 301). Such notification, which is not to be confused with the notification of the international application number and the international filing date (paragraph 44), is not mandatory but should correspond to the practice of the receiving Office with respect to national applications filed with it. If, according to its national practice, an Office notifies the applicant, before according a filing date, of the receipt of a national application, then it should, in its capacity as a receiving Office, do the same for international applications.

37. Confirmation Copy of Facsimile Transmission. Where a receiving Office which accepts the filing of international applications by facsimile machine receives by means other than facsimile machine a purported international application, it checks, before it marks the date of receipt and assigns an international application number, whether it is the first receipt of a new purported international application or whether that purported international application was already received by facsimile transmission. In the latter case, the receiving Office marks such original with the words "CONFIRMATION COPY" or their equivalent in the language of publication of the international application at the bottom of the first page of the request and of the first page of the description. Where only certain sheets are received by facsimile and the applicant subsequently files the original of those sheets only, the words "CONFIRMATION COPY" should be marked on each original sheet so received.

38. The international application as received by facsimile transmission constitutes the record copy. Therefore, the date of receipt to be marked on the last page of the request of the confirmation copy is the date on which the facsimile transmission was received (Section 331). Whether the sheets of the confirmation copy of the facsimile transmission should be marked as substitute sheets in accordance with Section 325 depends on whether the sheets of the facsimile contain any defects with regard to physical requirements (Rule 92.4(e) and paragraphs 208 to 210).