China has officially acceded to the Hague Convention on November 7, 2023, and the legalization process time is reduced from about 20 working days to several working days, and the costs are significantly reduced.   Compared with the traditional consular legalization, the Hague legalization process is simpler and the processing time is shorter. It can be used not only in the country of destination, but also in all  member states of the Convention. It only needs to be certified by a government organization in China, and no further legalization by a consulate is required.   At present, the Convention has 125 member states, accounting for about three-fifths of the total number of countries and regions in the world, including China's major trading partners and the most of the Belt and Road countries.

The Central Organization for Standardization and Quality Control (COSQC) has circulated to Iraqi attorneys and Agents that it has started accepting PCT applications as of today; i.e., 6 November 2023. In this regard, starting today, foreign innovators can use the PCT System to seek patent protection for their inventions in Iraq.   It should be noted that the Government of Iraq deposited its instrument of accession to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) with WIPO’s Director General on January 31, 2022 making Iraq the 155th member of the PCT Union. The PCT was expected to enter into force on April 30, 2022, but has just been initiated. Source:JAH IP

The EPO have recently announced that the official fee schedule will be revised for payments made on or after 1 April 2023. The new amounts are shown in the table below with a comparison to the current amounts. There is an increase of about 5% on all fees. The new amounts apply to payments made on or after 1 April 2023, not to fees due on or after that date. It is therefore possible to pay fees early to avoid the increase, if you can accommodate that change within your processes without incurring greater costs than will be saved. Fee Previous amount New amount Increased amount Filing 130 135 5 Each page over 35 16 17 1 Each claim over 15            250 265 15 Search 1390 1460 70 Designation 630 660 30 Examination 1750 1840 90 Grant 990 1040 50 3rd annuity fee 505 530 25 4th annuity fee 630 660 30 5th annuity fee 880 925 45