Recently, the CNIPA and the EPO issued joint communiqué, announcing that the CNIPA-EPO Pilot of International Searching Authority (ISA) under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) will be extended for one year from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023. According to the project, the EPO can be selected as the ISA for the PCT application submitted by the Chinese applicant. The pilot is applicable to PCT application submitted in English to the CNIPA or the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and the number of applications is limited to 3000 during the extension period. Applications with international searches completed by the EPO will not require European supplementary searches.

Since the launch on December 1, 2020, more than 270 applicants have actively participated in the project.

(Source: Website of the CNIPA)