6.9.3 Authorised Officer

Also in this Chapter:

• 6.9.1 Current Allocation of PCT Related Duties

• 6.9.2 International Online Specialists​​​​​​​

• 6.9.4 Minimum Levels of Responsibility

• 6.9.5 Examiners with Foreign Language Capabilities

• 6.9.6 Current Status of APO as an RO ISA and IPEA

Key Legislation:

Administrative Instructions under the PCT:

• s514 Authorized Officer

• s612 Authorized Officer

Regulations under the PCT:

• Rule 43.8 Authorized Officer

• Rule 70.14 Authorized Officer

On this page

• Introduction

• Minimum levels of responsibility

• Authorised Officer

  • Date of completion in reports

  • Restoration of priority

Introduction

The responsibility of the authorised officer is detailed in the earlier parts of this volume. The Australian Patent Office (APO) examiner levels for the most commonly met responsibilities are summarised below.

Minimum levels of responsibility

Minimum levels of responsibility for Supervising examiners, the Chief of PBR, Senior Examiners, and Examiners are listed in 6.9.4 Minimum Levels of Responsibility. These minimum responsibility levels represent no impediment to section practices such as performing or reviewing such tasks. Tasks can still be performed or reviewed at a lower level (for example, for development purposes) or at a higher level (for example, for performance feedback purposes), whether periodic or continuous.  

Authorised Officer

The Authorised Officer is the person who actually performs the work or another person who was responsible for its supervision. This is established in the Administrative Instructions at Section 514 (International Searching Authority) and 612 (International Preliminary Examining Authority).

Sections are to ensure that adequate quality control mechanisms are in place in relation to international actions. The fact that a person who performs the work is also responsible for it does not exempt them from being subject to quality control.

PCT Rules 43.8 (International Search Report (ISR)) and 70.14 (International Preliminary Report on Patentability (IPRP)) require that the responsible officer will be indicated in the reports. There is no requirement for the reports to be signed and Australian practice is not to sign them (see the Annexes in 6.1.19 Annexes). 

Date of completion in reports

Where the search or examining examiner is the responsible examiner, the date of actual completion of the ISR or IPRP must be indicated as the date of completion.

Where the search or examining examiner is not authorised, then the day upon which the responsible examiner concurs with the search examiner is to be indicated as the date of completion.

The date of completion of the IPRP should not be after the date indicated as ‘by which the IPRP will be established’ on the first sheet of the International Preliminary Examination Opinion, if a preceding opinion was issued.

Restoration of priority

It is noted that staff from Oppositions and Hearings are the authorised officers for a request for restoration of priority under PCT.