Decision of the State Council on Amending the Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China

(Promulgated by Decree No. 368 of the State Council of the People's Republic of China on December 28, 2002, and effective as of February 1, 2003)

The State Council has decided to amend as follows the Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China promulgated on June 15, 2001:

1. Article 101 is amended as: "Any applicant for an international application entering the Chinese national phase shall, within 30 months from the priority date as referred to in Article 2 of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (referred to in this chapter as "the priority date"), go through the following formalities with the patent administration department under the State Council:

(1) submitting a written statement concerning the entry of his or its international application into the Chinese national phase. The statement shall indicate the international application number, and also indicate in Chinese the kind of patent protection sought, the title of the invention-creation, the name or title of the applicant, the address of the applicant and the name of the inventor. Such indications shall be the same as those recorded by the International Bureau;

(2) paying the filing fee, the additional fee for patent application and the printing fee for publicizing the application as provided in Article 90, paragraph one of these Rules;

(3) where an international application is filed in a language other than Chinese, the Chinese translation of the description, the claims, the text matter of the drawings, and the abstract of the initial international application shall be furnished; where an international application is filed in Chinese, a copy of the abstract published in the international publication shall be furnished;

(4) where an international application contains drawings, a copy of the drawings shall be furnished. Where an international application is filed in Chinese, a copy of the figure of the drawings in the abstract as published in the international publication shall be furnished.

If the applicant fails to go through the relevant formalities for entering the Chinese national phase within the time limit prescribed in the preceding paragraph, he or it may, after paying a surcharge for the late entry, go through these formalities before the expiration of the time limit of 32 months from the priority date."

2. Article 108 is amended as: "Where, before the expiration of 30 months from the priority date, the applicant files a request with the patent administration department under the State Council for early processing and examination of his or its international application, he or it shall, in addition to going through the formalities for entering the Chinese national phase, submit a request in accordance with the provisions in Article 23, paragraph two of the Patent Cooperation Treaty. Where the international application has not been transmitted by the International Bureau to the patent administration department under the State Council, the applicant shall submit a confirmed copy of the international application."

This Decision shall be effective as of February 1, 2003.

The Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China shall be revised correspondingly according to this Decision and promulgated anew.