A new PCT article 22 (1) will be applied to pending International Applicants from April 1, 2002. With this new rule, without filing a request for international preliminary examination with the International Preliminary Examination Authority, the deadline for entering into national phase will be extended to 30 months from a priority date.
However, Japan has not accepted the new rule yet. Therefore, the new Article 22 (1) is not applicable for Japan. If you would like to extend the deadline for entering into Japanese national phase from 20 months to 30 months, you still need to file the request for international preliminary examination with the International Preliminary Examination Authority within 19 months as before.

For further information, please visit http://wipo.int/pct/en/index.html

* In Japan, the Cabinet decided on "the bill on a law to partially revise the Patent Law" on February 19, and submitted the bill to he Diet on February 21. According to this bill, the submission period for all domestic documents will be 2 years and 6 months in Japan starting January 1, 2003. Further, with regard to a Japanese translation that must be filed with a domestic document regarding a patent application in a foreign language, the applicant will be allowed to file the translation within two months of the filing date of the domestic document.