Japan IP News

Revision Regarding The Procedure for Entering into The Japanese National Phase of PCT Application

  • The deadline for entering into the Japanese national phase
    The deadline for entering into the Japanese national phase was revised from 20 months to 30 months starting from the international filing date (or the priority date if the priority is claimed) regardless of whether a Demand for an International Preliminary Examination of the PCT application under Chapter Ⅱ has been filed or not. Therefore, even if an International Preliminary Examination is not requested for a PCT applicant designating Japan, the applicant of the PCT application is able to submit a "national entry paper" (a request to enter into the Japanese national phase) within 30 months from the international filing date (or the priority date).
    This revision is in accordance with the revised PCT Section 22(1)
  • The period for submission of a Japanese translation of the specification, claims, abstract and drawings of a PCT application
    The applicant is able to submit a Japanese translation of the specification, claims, abstract and drawings, of the PCT application, within 2 months from the submission of the national entry paper without having to pay any extra official fee.
    Before the revision, it was necessary for the applicant to submit the translation by the deadline of 20 months(or 30 months if the Demand for International Preliminary Examination was filed within 19 months from the international filing date or the priority date). There was no grace period for submission of the translation. If the translation was not submitted by said deadline of 20 months (or 30 months) for entering into the Japanese national phase of the PCT application, the application was deemed to be withdrawn.

Due date chart