The China National Intellectual Property Administration ("CNIPA") recently issued the Announcement on Revising the Guidelines for Patent Examination (the "Announcement"), with effect from November 1, 2019.

The Announcement outlines 23 revisions to the Guidelines for Patent Examination. For example, the provision, reading "and then determine what technical problems the invention will resolve in practice, according to the technical effects that such distinctive feature could create", in the second sentence in Paragraph 1 under Item 2 of the Subsection 3.2.1.1 in Chapter 4 of Section II, is revised to read "and then determine what technical problems the invention will resolve in practice, according to the technical effects that such distinctive feature could create for the invention requesting protection". Also, the provision, reading "may be supplemented on the day of outward remittance by facsimile or email. Where information on fee payment is made complete after the supplement, the day of outward remittance will be the date of fee payment.", in Paragraph 1 of the Subsection 7 in Chapter 2 of Section V, is revised to read "shall be supplemented on the day of outward remittance by the means prescribed by the Patent Office and in accordance with its requirements", and the Paragraph 2 is removed. Moreover, the title of Chapter 7 of Section V is revised from "Resumption and Suspension of Time Limits and Rights" to "Resumption and Suspension of Time Limits and Rights, and Examination Sequence".

(Source:ChinaNational Intellectual Property Administration)