According to the relevant resolutions of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), from July 1, 2022, for patent applications involving nucleotide or amino acid sequence listings, the electronic file standards for sequence listings shall apply "On the Representation of Nucleosides in XML (Extensible Markup Language)" Recommended Standards for Listings of Acid and Amino Acid Sequences”, WIPO ST.26. In order to implement the standard implementation work, the relevant matters are hereby announced as follows:
1. From July 1, 2022, for national patent applications and PCT international applications submitted to the CNIPA, if the patent application documents contain a sequence listing, the electronic file of the sequence listing shall meet the requirements of the WIPO ST.26 standard.
The WIPO ST.26 standard can be found on the World Intellectual Property Organization website at https://www.wipo.int.
2. For national patent applications and PCT international applications with an filing date before July 1, 2022, applicants should still follow the old sequence listing standard.
3. Where the applicant submits the national patent application in electronic form, when submitting the electronic file of the sequence listing in accordance with the WIPO ST.26 standard, in order to calculate the additional cost of the description, a sequence listing file in PDF format should be submitted at the same time.
CNIPA
June 10, 2022