Rule 19L of the Patents Rules, 2003
Period for establishing international preliminary examination report and its transmission
Rule 19L sets the outer time limit for completing the international preliminary examination report and sending it out.
Official legal text
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What this rule requires, step by step
Chapter II has to finish in time to be useful. Rule 19L therefore fixes when the international preliminary examination report must be established. The period is the latest of three dates: twenty-eight months from the priority date; six months from the time provided under the Treaty Regulations for the start of the international preliminary examination; and six months from the date the examining authority receives any translation furnished for the purpose of the examination. The Treaty Regulations set out the same scheme, and they are the source to check if a case turns on the exact day.
The three limbs exist because examinations start at different points. The twenty-eight month limb is the usual one, and it is chosen deliberately: national phase entry is generally due at thirty or thirty-one months from the priority date, so a report established at twenty-eight months reaches the applicant with a short but workable window in which to decide where to file. The other two limbs protect cases where examination began late or where a translation had to be supplied, so that the authority always has a realistic minimum period to do the work.
For the applicant, the practical significance is planning. Everything that you want the examiner to consider must be on the file well before the report is established, because once it is established, that is the end of the international examination. A reply to a written opinion that arrives after the report has been drawn up achieves nothing at the international level. It also means budget decisions cannot be deferred indefinitely: the report and the national phase deadlines land close together, and translation, agent fees and official fees for several countries fall due within weeks of each other.
Once the report is ready it does not stay with the authority. It is transmitted to the International Bureau and to the applicant, and Rule 19M deals specifically with that transmittal, after which the Bureau communicates it to the offices where the applicant may pursue protection. If the applicant never replied to a written opinion, the report is still established, based on the material on the file, so silence produces a negative report rather than no report at all.
A final planning note for Indian applicants. India allows national phase entry within thirty-one months from the priority date, so a report established at twenty-eight months leaves roughly three months for the Indian decision. That is enough time if the paperwork was prepared in advance, and uncomfortably little if it was not.
Why this rule matters
Applicants in Chapter II and the agents coordinating national phase entries across several countries.
In the final months of the international phase, immediately before national phase deadlines.
An outer deadline for the authority to complete the report, and a predictable point at which the international examination closes.
Arguments and amendments filed too late are never considered, and applicants are left making national phase decisions with no time to absorb the report.
How it works in practice
Three months to decide five countries
Kaveri Fluid Systems Pvt Ltd of Tiruchirappalli demanded preliminary examination on a pressure regulator and replied to the written opinion in the twenty-fourth month from priority. The report was established in the twenty-eighth month and reached the company promptly. It was favourable on the amended claims but flagged one dependent claim as lacking support. The company then had about three months before national phase entry was due in India and four other countries. Because its agent had prepared draft claim sets, translation quotes and applicant details in advance, the team spent those weeks deciding which markets justified the cost rather than scrambling for documents. Two countries were dropped, the flagged claim was rewritten before filing, and the Indian national phase was entered within the thirty-one month period with a clean claim set. A sister company that treated the report as a surprise later missed one national deadline entirely.
Simplified illustration only. Actual legal outcomes depend on the facts.
Key points to remember
- The report must be established by the latest of three dates: twenty-eight months from the priority date, six months from the start of examination as fixed by the Treaty Regulations, or six months from receipt of any translation.
- The twenty-eight month limb is designed to leave time before the thirty or thirty-one month national phase deadlines.
- Anything you want considered must be on file well before the report is drawn up.
- If a written opinion goes unanswered, the report is still established on the material on record.
- The report is then transmitted to the International Bureau and the applicant, which Rule 19M covers.
- India allows national phase entry within thirty-one months from the priority date.
Common mistakes and misunderstandings
- Assuming there is always a chance to reply once more. After the report is established the international examination is over.
- Planning national phase budgets only after reading the report, which leaves very little time to arrange translations and funds.
- Reading the twenty-eight month figure as the only rule. Where examination started late or a translation was filed, a later date can apply.
Connected provisions
Rules and sections are cited differently and amended differently. On a rule page the connected sections are therefore kept in a separate list, so that a reader quoting this material can attribute each requirement to the correct instrument.
Forms, deadlines and fees
- The international preliminary examination report must be established within twenty-eight months from the priority date, or six months from the time provided for the start of the examination, or six months from the date the authority receives any translation furnished for the examination, whichever expires last.
- India must be entered as a national phase within thirty-one months from the priority date, which usually falls only a short time after the report is issued.
Open the deadline calculator — and have every date confirmed against the current Rules before you rely on it.
Where a fee is payable under this provision, the figure comes from the First Schedule. Categories of applicant are charged at different rates, and electronic filing is treated differently from paper filing, so an accurate number can only come from the Schedule in force on the day you file. How Indian patent fees work.
Related judgments
No judgment summaries appear here yet. Our process requires a legal review of each case note before publication, covering the citation, the court and the point actually decided. Until a note for this provision has passed that check, the section stays empty rather than carrying unverified material. How case notes are prepared.
Questions people ask about Rule 19L
When will I receive the international preliminary examination report?
Usually around twenty-eight months from the priority date. The rule allows the authority the latest of three periods: twenty-eight months from priority, six months from the time fixed under the Treaty Regulations for the examination to begin, or six months from receipt of any translation supplied for the examination. In most cases the twenty-eight month limb governs, which is why applicants should have their national phase plans ready before the report arrives rather than starting to think about them afterwards.
What if I do not reply to the written opinion in time?
The authority still establishes the report, based on whatever is on the file. In practice that means the objections in the written opinion stand and the report is negative on those claims. That negative report travels with the application to the offices where you seek protection, so national examiners begin with an unfavourable view already on record. Replying, even briefly, is almost always better than silence, and it is far cheaper than reversing the position country by country later.
How much time is there between the report and the Indian national phase?
Often only a few months. India allows national phase entry within thirty-one months from the priority date, and a report established at around twenty-eight months leaves roughly three months. That is enough time only if the groundwork is done in advance: applicant and inventor details confirmed, the claim set decided, translations arranged where needed, and funds available for official fees. Treat the twenty-eight and thirty-one month dates as a single planning block rather than two separate events.
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