At the end of the “international phase” of the PCT procedure, it is necessary to convert the PCT application into a bundle of national and/or regional applications if patent rights in the invention are not to be lost. The deadline for doing this varies from country to country, and the choice of countries/regions, from the list of possible countries is up to the applicant.
Generally speaking, there are two lists: those where national phase entry has to be completed within 30-months of the PCT application’s filing or priority date, or those where national phase entry has to be completed within 31-months of the PCT application’s filing or priority date.
| 30-month countries/regions | 31-month countries/regions |
| LU Luxembourg
TZ United Republic of Tanzania UG Uganda AE United Arab Emirates AG Antigua and Barbuda AO Angola AT Austria AZ Azerbaijan BB Barbados BH Bahrain BN Brunei Darussalam BR Brazil BZ Belize CA Canada CH Switzerland CN China CU Cuba DE Germany DM Dominica DO Dominican Republic EG Egypt ES Spain GD Grenada GH Ghana GM Gambia GT Guatemala HN Honduras IL Israel IR Iran (Islamic Republic of) JP Japan KE Kenya KM Comoros KN Saint Kitts and Nevis KP Democratic People’s Republic of Korea LA Lao People’s Democratic Republic LC Saint Lucia LK Sri Lanka LR Liberia LS Lesotho LY Libya ME Montenegro MG Madagascar MW Malawi MX Mexico MY Malaysia NG Nigeria NI Nicaragua OA African Intellectual Property Organization (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Comoro Islands, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal & Togo) OM Oman PA Panama PH Philippines PL Poland PT Portugal QA Qatar RO Romania RS Serbia RW Rwanda SA Saudi Arabia SD Sudan SG Singapore ST Sao Tome and Principe SV El Salvador TH Thailand TJ Tajikistan TM Turkmenistan TN Tunisia TR Turkey TT Trinidad and Tobago US United States of America VC Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ZM Zambia ZW Zimbabwe PE Peru CL Chile |
AL Albania
AM Armenia AP African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (Botswana, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe) AU Australia BG Bulgaria BW Botswana BY Belarus CO Colombia CR Costa Rica CZ Czech Republic DK Denmark DZ Algeria EA Eurasian Patent Organisation (Turkmenistan, Republic of Belarus, Republic of Tajikistan, Russian Federation, Republic of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan Republic, Kyrgyz Republic, Republic of Armenia & Republic of Moldova) EC Ecuador EE Estonia EP European Patent Organisation (Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, United Kingdom, Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Monaco, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, San Marino & Turkey) FI Finland GE Georgia HR Croatia HU Hungary ID Indonesia IN India IS Iceland KG Kyrgyzstan KR Republic of Korea KZ Kazakhstan LT Lithuania MA Morocco MD Republic of Moldova MK The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia MN Mongolia MZ Mozambique NA Namibia NO Norway NZ New Zealand PG Papua New Guinea RU Russian Federation SC Seychelles SE Sweden SK Slovakia SL Sierra Leone SM San Marino SY Syrian Arab Republic UA Ukraine UZ Uzbekistan VN Viet Nam ZA South Africa BA Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Please note: the deadlines are fixed, and that there is little leeway for extensions of time. Notably, Japan (JP) and certain other countries have no provision for late entry into the national phase. Further, you need to take into account time zone differences because countries like Japan and China are effectively one day ahead of us here in the UK. This is a critical consideration when providing instructions because missing the deadline due to time zone differences is not an acceptable reason for restoration.
You may note that certain key countries, such as France and Italy, do not appear on the main list of PCT contacting states. However, these countries are members of the European Patent Organisation, so patents can be obtained in those countries nevertheless, by entering the European regional phase of the PCT at the 31-month stage. Also, certain countries above, such as Germany and Spain require direct entry into the national phase at 30-months, but these countries are also EPC contracting states so it is still possible to defer by a month by applying for a European patent at the 31-month stage instead.
Entering the national/regional phase is a costly and complicated process. We can handle the filing of UK national phase applications as well as EPO regional phase applications. For other countries/regions, we instruct overseas attorneys to handle this for you, with us as the “coordinator” to make sure that prosecution and amendments are consistent across the family of applications.
Please contact us if you would like to learn more, or provide instructions.