Adopted on October 2, 2013, by the Assembly of the International Patent Cooperation Union (PCT Union) at its Forty-fourth (19th Ordinary) Session held from September 23 to October 2, 2013, with effect from July 1, 2014
Rule 44ter
Rule 66.1ter
Rule 70.2
Rule 94.1
Rule 66
Procedure Before the International Preliminary Examining Authority
66.1 and 66.1bis [No change]
The International Preliminary Examining Authority shall conduct a search ("top-up search") to discover documents referred to in Rule 64 which have been published or have become available to the said Authority for search subsequent to the date on which the international search report was established, unless it considers that such a search would serve no useful purpose. If the Authority finds that any of the situations referred to in Article 34(3) or (4) or Rule 66.1(e) exists, the top-up search shall cover only those parts of the international application that are the subject of international preliminary examination.
66.2 to 66.8 [No change]
Rule 70
International preliminary Report on Patentability by the International Preliminary Examining Authority (International Examination Report)
70.1 [No change]
(a) to (e) [No change]
(f) The report shall indicate the date on which a top-up search under Rule 66.1ter was made, or else state that no top-up search was made.
70.3 to 70.17 [No change]
Rule 94
Access to Files
94.1 Access to the File Held by the International Bureau
(a) [No change]
(b) The International Bureau shall, at the request of any person but not before the international publication of the international application and subject to Article 38, furnish, subject to the reimbursement of the cost of the service, copies of any document contained in its file.
(c) [No change]
94.2 and 94.3 [No change]
I hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy of the original text in English of the amendments to the Regulations under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) adopted on October 2, 2013, by the Assembly of the International Patent Cooperation Union (PCT Union) at its forty-fourth (19th ordinary) session held from September 23 to October 2, 2013, with effect from July 1, 2014.
Francis Gurry
Director General
World Intellectual Property Organization
January 14, 2014
Footnotes:
1. The amendments of Rules 66 and 70 shall apply to any international application, irrespective of its international filing date, in respect of which a demand for international preliminary examination is made on or after July 1, 2014. The deletion of Rule 44ter and the amendment of Rule 94 shall apply to any international application whose international filing date is on or after July 1, 2014.
2. The following reproduces, for each Rule that was amended, the amended text. Where a part of any such Rule has not been amended, the indication "[No change]" appears.