- 1. There are 148 contracting states and 4 international organizations.
- 2. Filing a single patent application to retrieve an international filing date, and proceeding in international search.
- 3. International preliminary examination (substantive examination) must be requested but each contracting country is out of restriction of examination result.
- 4. The authorization for grant or rejection is worked after the searching and preliminary examination.
- 5. The applicant shall file an application before the national patent offices of the contracting countries within 30 months from the earliest filing date of the international application.
