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19.4 Transmittal to the International Bureau as Receiving Office - Patent Cooperation Treaty
§ 19.4 Transmittal to the International Bureau as Receiving Office
(a) Where an international application is filed with a national Office which acts as a receiving Office under the Treaty but
(i) that national Office is not competent under Rule 19.1 or 19.2 to receive that international application, or
(ii) that international application is not in a language accepted under Rule 12.1(a) by that national Office but is in a language accepted under that Rule by the International Bureau as receiving Office, or
(iii) that national Office and the International Bureau agree, for any reason other than those specified under items (i) and (ii), and with the authorization of the applicant, that the procedure under this Rule should apply, that international application shall, subject to paragraph (b), be considered to have been received by that Office on behalf of the International Bureau as receiving Office under Rule 19.1(a)(iii).
(b) Where, pursuant to paragraph (a), an international application is received by a national Office on behalf of the International Bureau as receiving Office under Rule 19.1(a)(iii), that national Office shall, unless prescriptions concerning national security prevent the international application from being so transmitted, promptly transmit it to the International Bureau. Such transmittal may be subjected by the national Office to the payment of a fee, for its own benefit, equal to the transmittal fee charged by that Office under Rule 14. The international application so transmitted shall be considered to have been received by the International Bureau as receiving Office under Rule 19.1(a)(iii) on the date of receipt of the international application by that national Office.
(c) For the purposes of Rules 14.1(c), 15.4 and 16.1(f), where the international application was transmitted to the International Bureau under paragraph (b), the date of receipt of the international application shall be considered to be the date on which the international application was actually received by the International Bureau. For the purposes of this paragraph, the last sentence of paragraph (b) shall not apply.
Rule 20
Receipt of the International Application
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