PCT Receiving Office Guidelines

Chapter XII: Transmittal of International Application to International Bureau as Receiving Office (Rule 19.4)

Transmittal of International Application for Reasons of Nationality and Residence of the Applicant, or Language or Electronic File Format of the Application (Rule 19.4(a)(i) to (ii-bis))

274. Where a purported international application is filed by an applicant who is a national or resident of a Contracting State with a national Office which acts as a receiving Office under the Treaty, but

(i) that national Office is not competent for reasons of nationality or residence of the applicant to receive that purported international application (Rule 19.1 or 19.2), or

(ii) the purported international application is not in a language accepted under Rule 12.1(a) or the language-dependent free text in the sequence listing part of the description is not in a language accepted under Rule 12.1(d) by that national Office but is in a language accepted under that Rule by the International Bureau as receiving Office (see Annex C (IB) of the PCT Applicant's Guide, for the language accepted by that Bureau), or

(iii) all or part of the international application is filed in electronic form in a format not accepted by that national Office,

the national Office applies the procedure outlined in Rule 19.4(b).

275. The national Office does not check any further whether the purported international application fulfills the requirements for being accorded an international filing date. Where the national Office requires payment of the fee referred to in Rule 19.4(b) and that fee has not already been paid, the national Office promptly invites (Form PCT/RO/151) the applicant to pay that fee within a time limit of 15 days from the date of the invitation (Section 333(a)). The national Office is not obliged to wait for the fee to be paid to transmit the purported international application. However, if the required fee is not paid, the national Office need not transmit the purported international application but should proceed under Rule 20.4 by notifying the applicant that the purported international application does not comply with Article 11(1) and is not and will not be treated as an international application.

276. Any fees already paid by the applicant are to be refunded except for the amount necessary to cover any fee required under Rule 19.4(b). The transmittal fee, the international filing fee and the search fee are payable to the International Bureau as receiving Office in a currency prescribed by it (paragraphs 237 to 243). For the purposes of calculation of the time limit(s) for payment of those fees, the date of receipt of the international application is considered to be the date on which it is actually received by the International Bureau as receiving Office (Rule 19.4(c)).

277. Where payment of a fee is not required or where the applicant has paid any required fee, the purported international application is to be transmitted to the International Bureau as receiving Office, unless prescriptions concerning national security prevent the purported international application from being so transmitted (Rule 19.4(b) and Section 333(a) and (c)). The national Office notifies (Form PCT/RO/151) the applicant about the transmittal of the purported international application and transmits it to the International Bureau as receiving Office together with a copy of the notification sent to the applicant, the date of receipt of the purported international application at the national Office being marked on the last sheet of the request in the space provided for that purpose (paragraph 35). The purported international application so transmitted is considered to have been received by that Office on behalf of the International Bureau as receiving Office under Rule 19.1(a)(iii) on the date of receipt of the international application by that national Office.