The Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO) and the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) agreed to continue cooperation on the Patent Prosecution Highway Pilot Program (PPH Program) for an indefinite time period starting April 1, 2023.

The decision to extend cooperation on the PPH Program, which was commenced on April 1, 2018 on the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding on the PPH Program between EAPO and CNIPA, was agreed by the two Offices at the beginning of this year. Signing of the MOU on Extension is deemed to take place on the sidelines of the sixty-fourth series of meetings of Assemblies of the Member States of WIPO in July 2023, in Geneva, Switzerland.

Following the appointment of the EAPO as an International Searching Authority (ISA) and an International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA) under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), the Offices also agreed to expand the existing PPH Program and to include the PCT-PPH.