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16.1 Right to Ask for a Fee - Patent Cooperation Treaty
§ 16.1 Right to Ask for a Fee
(a) Each International Searching Authority may require that the applicant pay a fee ("search fee") for its own benefit for carrying out the international search and for performing all other tasks entrusted to International Searching Authorities by the Treaty and these Regulations.
(b) The search fee shall be collected by the receiving Office. The said fee shall be payable in the currency or one of the currencies prescribed by that Office ("receiving Office currency"), it being understood that, if any receiving Office currency is not that, or one of those, in which the International Searching Authority has fixed the said fee ("fixed currency"), it shall, when transferred by the receiving Office to the International Searching Authority, be freely convertible into the currency of the State in which the International Searching Authority has its headquarters ("headquarters currency"). The amount of the search fee in any receiving Office currency, other than the fixed currency, shall be established by the Director General after consultation with the receiving Office of, or acting under Rule 19.1(b) for, the State whose official currency is the same as the receiving Office currency. The amounts so established shall be the equivalents, in round figures, of the amount established by the International Searching Authority in the headquarters currency. They shall be notified by the International Bureau to each receiving Office prescribing payment in that receiving Office currency and shall be published in the Gazette.
(c) Where the amount of the search fee in the headquarters currency is changed, the corresponding amounts in the receiving Office currencies, other than the fixed currency or currencies, shall be applied from the same date as the changed amount in the headquarters currency.
(d) Where the exchange rate between the headquarters currency and any receiving Office currency, other than the fixed currency or currencies, becomes different from the exchange rate last applied, the Director General shall establish the new amount in the said receiving Office currency according to directives given by the Assembly. The newly established amount shall become applicable two months after its publication in the Gazette, provided that any receiving Office referred to in the third sentence of paragraph (b) and the Director General may agree on a date falling during the said two-month period, in which case the said amount shall become applicable for that Office from that date.
(e) Where, in respect of the payment of the search fee in a receiving Office currency, other than the fixed currency or currencies, the amount actually received by the International Searching Authority in the headquarters currency is less than that fixed by it, the difference will be paid to the International Searching Authority by the International Bureau, whereas, if the amount actually received is more, the difference will belong to the International Bureau.
(f) As to the time limit for payment of the search fee and the amount payable, the provisions of Rule 15.4 relating to the international filing fee shall apply mutatis mutandis.
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