Fees of 2nd Annuity PCT National Stage Applications to Be Paid in Tunisia
07-Sep-2009
TUNIS - Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property (AGIP) would like to notify its clients that the Patent Office in Tunisia has adopted a new practice according to which the 2nd annuity fees should be paid along with the filing fees of national stage of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) application.
No official announcement was issued; however, AGIP has been verbally informed about this new implementation which became effective September 1, 2009.
“Earlier, the 2nd annuity was excluded from the payment and annuities started from the 3rd annuity,” Fathi Abu-Nimeh Tunisia AGIP office manager said.
“As an example, in the past, we only paid the filing fees and later the 3rd annuity when it will be due. Now, we should pay the filing fees and the 2nd annuity together and then the 3rd annuity,” he elaborated.
Therefore, for any new PCT application, the 2nd annuity fees should be paid along with the filing fees.
Usually national phases of PCT applications are filed after one year from the international filing date and accordingly, the 2nd annuity fees will be due at the filing date.