After a PCT international application has designated or elected China, it will enter into the Chinese phase according to the provisions of Rules 19 and 20 of the "Provisions Concerning the Implementation of 'Patent Cooperation Treaty' in China". The Chinese Patent Office has the following provisions on the international application documents submitted by the applicant:
l. The Chinese version of the international application shall include the request, the specification, the claims, the illustration in the attached drawings (copies of the drawings attached) and the abstract, which are the PCT application documents announced by the International Bureau during the international phase.
Where the claims had been amended during the international phase according to Rules 19 and 34 of the Treaty, and the applicants wishes to have the claims be taken as the basis of examination when entering into the Chinese phase, the applicant shall mention this in the application document and simultaneously submit the Chinese version of the amended portion. Where the applicant has already made a statement but has not submitted the documents, the Chinese Patent Office shall notify the applicant to supplement same. Where the Chinese version of the amended document is not submitted within the specified time limit, the Chinese Patent Office will not take these amendments into consideration.
Where, at the time of entering the Chinese phase, the amendment portion of the abovementioned application documents was not submitted, the applicant may submit it, on his own initiative, prior to the completion of the preparatory work on the announcement of the Chinese version thereof by the Chinese Patent Office. For the application the Chinese version of the amendment has not been submitted, the applicant may be asked to submit same in a specified time limit when the examiner deems it necessary.
2. According to the provisions of the Chinese Patent Office, an international application designating or selecting China may amend the claims, the specification and attached drawings of the original international application documents within one month from the date of the expiration of the specified time limit of entering into the Chinese phase; where China is being designated, the transmittal procedure as stipulated by the International Bureau has not been conducted, or where China is being designated, the transmittal of preliminary examination report has not been conducted, the abovementioned amendment may be submitted to the Chinese Patent Office within four months from the expiration of the date of entering into the Chinese phase. Where, at the expiration of the above specified time limit, the applicant has not requested for substantive examination, he can still, on his own initiative, amend the documents when requesting substantive examination. Where the applicant has already made a request for substantive examination, he again voluntarily amends the documents, though the abovementioned time limit has not expired, the Chinese Patent Office will not take this into consideration.
3. Where, according to the provisions of the Chinese Patent Office, the applicant amended the documents on entering the Chinese phase on his own initiative the contents of which have included or substituted the contents amended during the international phase, the applicant does not have to submit the translation of the corresponding amended portions made during the international phase.
