The Patent Cooperation Treaty – List of PCT Countries

The Patent Cooperation Treaty – List of PCT Countries

 

Below are the countries that have signed the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

Country	WIPO Country Code	Codes for exceptions to the standard 30 month deadline	Country	WIPO Country Code	Codes for exceptions to the standard 30 month deadline
Albania	AL	EPO	Malaysia	MY
Algeria	DZ		Mali	ML	OAPI only
Angola	AO		Malta	MT	EPO only
Antigua and Barbuda	AG		Mauritania	MR	OAPI only
Armenia	AM	EuP	Mexico	MX	NR
Austria	AT	EPO	Moldova	MD	EPO after 1 Nov 2015; MD
Australia	AU	N31	Monaca	MC	EPO only - L1
Azerbaijan	AZ	EuP	Mongolia	MN	N31
Bahrain	BH		Montenegro	ME	EPO+; See YU
Barbados	BS		Morocco	MA	N31, EPO-V
Belarus	BY	EuP	Mozambique	MZ	ARIPO, N31
Belgium	BE	EPO only	Namibia	NA	ARIPO
Belize	BZ		Netherlands	NL	EPO-L2 only, N31
Benin	BJ	OAPI only	New Zealand	NZ	N31, NR
Bosnia & Herzegovina	BA	EPO+, N34	Nicaragua	NI
Botswana	BW	ARIPO	Niger	NE	OAPI only
Brazil	BR		Norway	NO	EPO
Brunei Darussalam	BN		Oman	OM
Bulgaria	BG	EPO, N31	Panama	PA
Burkina Faso	BF	OAPI only	Papua New Guinea	PG
Cameroon	CM	OAPI only	Peru	PE
Canada	CA	N30/42$, NR	Philippines	PH	NR
Central African Republic	CF	OAPI only	Poland	PL	EPO, NR
Chad	TD	OAPI only	Portugal	PT	EPO
Chile	TD	OAPI only	Qatar	QA
People's Republic of China	CN	N30/32$	Romania	RO	EPO
Colombia	CO		Russian Federation	RU	EuP, N31
Comoros	KM	OAPI only	Rwanda	RW	ARIPO
Congo	CG	OAPI only	Saint Lucia	LC
Costa Rica	CR		St. Kitts and Nevis	KN
Côte d'Ivoire	CI	OAPI only	St. Vincent & the Grenadines	VC
Croatia	HR	EPO, L2, N31	San Marino	SM	EPO
Cuba	CU		Saudi Arabia	SA
Cyprus	CY	EPO only, N31	Senegal	SN	OAPI only
Czech Republic	CZ	EPO, N31	São Tomé and Principe	ST	ARIPO
Denmark	DK	EPO-L2, N31 (Note: check also DK)	Republic of Serbia	RS	EPO; see YU
Dominica	DM		Seychelles	SC
Dominican Republic	DO		Sierra Leone	SL	ARIPO, N31
Ecuador	EC	N31	Singapore	SG	N30/33$
Egypt	EG	N33$	Slovakia	SK	EPO
El Salvador	SV		Slovenia	SI	EPO only - L2
Equatorial Guinea	GQ	OAPI only	South Africa	ZA	N31
Estonia	EE	EPO	Spain	ES	EPO
Finland	FI	EPO - L2, N31 (patents only)	Sri Lanka (Ceylon)	LK
France	FR	EPO only - L1	Sudan	SD	ARIPO
Gabon	GA	OAPI only	Sweden	SE	EPO-L2, N31
Gambia	GM	ARIPO	Swaziland	SZ	ARIPO only
Georgia	GE	N31	Switzerland (includes Liechtenstein)	CH	EPO-L1
Germany	DE	EPO-L1, NR	Syrian Arab Republic	SY
Ghana	GH	ARIPO	Tajikistan	TJ	EuP
Greece	GR	EPO only, N31	Tanzania	TZ	ARIPO, C2
Grenada	GD		Thailand	TH
Guatemala	GT		Togo	TG	OAPI only
Guinea	GN	OAPI only	Trinidad and Tobago	TT
Guinea-Bissau	GW	OAPI only	Tunisia	TN
Honduras	HN		Turkey	TR	EPO
Hungary	HU	EPO-L2, N31	Turkmenistan	TM	EuP
Iceland	IS	EPO-L2, N31	Uganda	UG	ARIPO, C2
India	IN	N31, NR	Ukraine	UA
Indonesia	ID	N31	United Arab Emirates	AE
Iran	IR		United Kingdom	GB	EPO-L1, N31
Ireland	IE	N31	United States of America	US
Israel	IL		Uzbekistan	UZ	N31
Italy	IT	EPO only, N31	Viet Nam	VN
Japan	JP	NR	Yugoslavia	YU	YU
Kazakhstan	KZ	EuP, N31	Zambia	ZM	ARIPO
Kenya	KE	EuP, N31	Zimbabwe	ZW	ARIPO
Democratic People's Republic of Korea(North Korea)	KP
Republic of Korea (South Korea)	KR	N31, NR
Kyrgyzstan	KG	EuP, N31
Laos	LA	EPO only - L2, NR
Lesotho	LS	ARIPO
Liechtenstein	LI	EPO - L1; if joint with Switzerland: EPO only after September 4, 2014
Liberia	LR	ARIPO
Libya	LY
Lithuania	LT	EPO - L2, N31; EPO only after September 2, 2014
Luxembourg	LU	EPO - L1, C2
Macedonia ("Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia")	MK	EPO, N31
Madagascar	MG
Malawi	MW
Note: For more information about each of these countries, you can check it at WIPO's PCT Applicant's Guide page.

Codes

• Codes for exceptions to the standard 30 months deadline

C2 “Chapter II Required” – This particular country has not yet changed its national law to follow the post-April 2002 PCT 30-month national entry procedure. A Chapter II demand must still be filed prior 19 months in order to have the benefit of the 30-month national entry timing in these countries. Also note that these countries are available through regional patent systems that have accepted the uniform 30 or 31-month period. 

Nxx[/yy$] “Nonstandard National Stage Deadline” – This particular country has a national-phase entry deadline longer than the usual 30 months, where “xx” is the number of months for entry into national phase. If there’s a second number followed by a “$”, the national phase date may be extended to “yy” months on payment of a late filing fee.

NR “No Reinstatement – PCT Rule 49.6 requires that each PCT country allows reinstatement of a PCT application that doesn’t enter the National Stage within the usual 30 month period or, the longer period noted by code Nxx stated above. As stated in this rule, if an applicant missed the deadline, he or she can petition the national patent office to reinstate the application with a fee and within a period of time set forth by that country’s law. However, please note that there are still countries that have not yet changed their law regarding permitting reinstatement according to rule 49.6. With that, an applicant must enter National Stage in these certain countries prior the deadline or the application will be permanently abandoned. See this page for more information. 

• Codes referring to Regional Patent Systems

Countries that are part of a “Regional Patent” system are shown by different symbols. When a country is part of a regional system, an applicant can enter the national phase in that particular country through the regional patent system instead of filing a national application in the individual member country. This allows applicants to file and prosecute one single application that when issued, could be effective in all of the member countries. However, note that an applicant may need to designate which countries they want, to file translations and to pay additional fees per country at the moment they enter the regional phase and/or after the regional patent issues. 

… only – When a regional code if followed by “only”, it means that an applicant cannot enter National Stage to get a national patent through PCT. The applicant must use a regional patent to get patent coverage in this country. 

• European Patent Convention

EPO – countries that are covered by European Patent Convention (EPC).

When an EPC application is filed, it should be in English, French or German and any or all of the 42 EPO member countries may be designated upon filing the regional application. Note that there is a 31-month deadline to apply for a regional patent through the PCT. 

Also, prosecution in the EPO will be in whichever language the application is filed. When the EPC application is allowed, the claims (only) should be translated into the other two languages before the patent will be issued. 

After the EPC patent is issued, it should be registered in any of the designated countries in which the applicant wants protection. However, it may require translation of the entire patent into other languages, depending on which countries are selected and what language the patent application was in. 

Note: If the country has signed the London Agreement, some or all of the translation burden is mitigated. 

Annual fees or “annuities” are charged by the EPO during the pendency of the application. Annuities are charged by most, if not all, EPO member countries from registration through the life of the patent after the patent issues. 

London Agreement to the EPC

EPO-L1 – This country has signed the London Agreement. The national patent doesn’t require translation for any EPO patent issued after May 1, 2008. Remember that the EPO requirement for translation of the claims into English, German and French on allowance still applies. 

EPO-L2 – That this country has signed the London Agreement in a partial form. An English version of the description and drawings is acceptable, however, claims should be translated into the local language for all EPO patents issued after May 1, 2008. In instances where the original description and drawings weren’t in English, then it needs to be translated into either English or the local language. 

EPO+ - The country is not a member of the EPC, but an extension of a European patent is possible. 

EPO-V – The country is not a member of the EPC or EPO, but validation of European Patent Application or issued patent is possible. Note that the only country at present that will allow validation is Morocco. This is effective for PCT applications filed on or after March 1, 2015. 

• Other Regional Patent Systems

OAPI – The country is covered by the OAPI regional Patent (French-speaking African countries)

ARIPO – The country is covered by ARIPO Patent (English-speaking African countries)

EuP – The country is covered by Eurasian Patent (former USSR states) 31-month deadline to enter regional phase. 

• Notes that apply to only one country

DK – Special time limits apply to the Faroe Islands and Greenland. The Danish Patent and Trademark Office has notified the International Bureau that, regarding the entry into the national phase in Denmark, special time limits apply to the Faroe Islands and Greenland. The time limit for these areas is 20 months from the priority date, or from the international filing date where there is no priority claim. 

The Danish Patent and Trademark Office has notified the International Bureau that the time limit for entry into the national phase, where a demand for international preliminary examination has been filed prior the expiration of nineteen months from the priority date, is thirty months for Greenland and twenty months for the Faroe Islands. With the possibility of extending the time limit by 2 months, the rest of the Danish territory has the time limit of 31 months from the priority date. For more information about the Danish Patent and Trademark Office, you can check their website here. 

MD – For Moldova, it had been possible to obtain patent protection through the Eurasian Patent or EuP. However, after April 26, 2012, such protection is no longer available. This is because on October 26. 2011, the Republic of Moldova put a notification of denunciation of the Eurasian Patent Convention that took effect on April 26, 2012. 

Note that this denunciation will not affect granted Eurasian patents or PCT applications filed before April 26, 2012, that contain the designation of the Republic of Moldova for a Eurasian patent. These patents and applications will continue to have full effect. Though, as a result of the denunciation, any international application filed on or after April 26, 2012, will encompass the designation of the Republic of Moldova only for a national patent. Moreover, it will not include the designation of that State for a Eurasian patent.  As of April 26, 2012, the Eurasian Patent Office will no longer be a competent receiving Office for international applications filed by the nationals and residents of the Republic of Moldova. In this case, the remaining competent receiving Offices will be the State Agency on Intellectual Property of the Republic of Moldova or the International Bureau of WIPO, at the choice of the applicant. 

YU – Serbia and Montenegro were part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from the end of World War II through 1991. The 2 states jointly maintained use of the name “Yugoslavia” even after the post-Communist breakup of that country in 1991. In 2003, the name was changed to “the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro”, but the “YU” code was kept in effect. But in June 2006, the two states separated, the “YU” was replaced by “RS” for Serbia and “ME” for Montenegro. 

The “Republic of Serbia” filed a declaration with WIPO on September 19, 2006, stating that “the Republic of Serbia continues the state and legal identity of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro” and confirmed its membership in the PCT. 

The European Patent Organization and the Government of Montenegro signed an agreement on February 16, 2009, regarding the extension of the European Patents to Montenegro. It was announced that the effective date for this extension is March 1, 2010. It will be possible to extend the protection discussed by European patent applications and patents to Montenegro in respect of the international applications filed on or after that date.