EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Statutory Rules 1987 No. 138
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Science
This amendment of the Patents Regulations corrects an omission in the regulations made by Statutory Rules 1987 No. 78 in relation to international applications lodged under the Patent Cooperation Treaty that are treated, by virtue of section 58B of the Patents Act 1952, as applications under the Act. Broadly speaking, the amendment:
(a) confines the operation of the provisions of regulation 19ZC, inserted by Statutory Rules 1987 No. 78, to patent applications that are not international applications to which section 58B of the Act applies; and
(b) adds new provisions to regulation 19ZC to prescribe periods for lodgment of the documents prescribed in regulation 19ZB in respect of a deposit of a micro-organism in relation to an international application to which section 58B of the Act applies.
The periods prescribed in these new provisions meet the requirements of Article 27 of the Treaty under which the lodgment of documents prescribed by regulation 19ZB ought not to be required until after the processing of the international patent application has commenced in Australia. Regulation 15A of the Patents Regulations specifies the periods within which that processing shall commence. In effect, the periods prescribed in these new provisions incorporate the periods presently prescribed in regulation 19ZC, for compliance with the requirements of regulation 19ZB, and the periods specified in regulation 15A.
Details of the regulations are as follows:
Regulation 1 provides that the amending regulations come into operation on 7 July 1987, which is the date on which the amendment of the Patents Regulations made by Statutory Rules 1987 No. 78 comes into operation.
Regulation 2 amends regulation 19ZC which was inserted by Statutory Rules 1987 No. 78. The amendment made by paragraph (a) confines the operation of the provisions of regulation 19ZC made by Statutory Rules 1987 No. 78 to patent applications that are not international applications. Regulation 4 of the Patents Regulations defines “international application” for the purposes of the Patents Regulations to mean an application filed under the Treaty, to which section 58B of the Act applies. The amendment made by paragraph (b) adds new subregulations (2) and (3) to regulation 19ZC. The effect of the new subregulations is to prescribe periods for lodgment of the documents prescribed in regulation 19ZB in respect of a deposit of a micro-organism in relation to an international application. The periods prescribed in the new subregulations are, in the case of an original deposit: where the applicant has requested international preliminary examination under Article 31 of the Treaty - 34 months from the application’s priority date; and, in any other case - 24 months from the priority date. In the case of a new or transferred deposit of a micro-organism, the period is that just specified or 3 months from the date of the new or transferred deposit, whichever is the later.