

	Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP)

§ 15.1 Basic Fee and Designation Fee - none Patent Cooperation Treaty

§ 15.1 Basic Fee and Designation Fee

Each international application shall be subject to the payment of a fee for the benefit of the International Bureau ("international fee") to be collected by the receiving Office and consisting of,

(i) a "basic fee," and

(ii) as many "designation fees" as there are national patents and regional patents sought under Rule 4.9(a), except that, where Article 44 applies in respect of a designation, only one designation fee shall be due for that designation, and that the Schedule of Fees may indicate a maximum number of designation fees payable.

§ 15.2 Amounts

(a) The amounts of the basic fee and of the designation fee are as set out in the Schedule of Fees.

(b) The basic fee and the designation fee shall be payable in the currency or one of the currencies prescribed by the receiving Office ("prescribed currency"), it being understood that, when transferred by the receiving Office to the International Bureau, they shall be freely convertible into Swiss currency. The amounts of the basic fee and of the designation fee shall be established, for each receiving Office which prescribes the payment of those fees in any currency other than Swiss currency, 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 prescribed currency. The amounts so established shall be the equivalents, in round figures, of the amounts in Swiss currency set out in the Schedule of Fees. They shall be notified by the International Bureau to each receiving Office prescribing payment in that prescribed currency and shall be published in the Gazette.

(c) Where the amounts of the fees set out in the Schedule of Fees are changed, the corresponding amounts in the prescribed currencies shall be applied from the same date as the amounts set out in the amended Schedule of Fees.

(d) Where the exchange rate between Swiss currency and any prescribed currency becomes different from the exchange rate last applied, the Director General shall establish new amounts in the prescribed currency according to directives given by the Assembly. The newly established amounts shall become applicable two months after the date of their publication in the Gazette, provided that the receiving Office referred to in the second 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 amounts shall become applicable from that date.

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