On June 6, 2024, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) announced the launch of China-Africa Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) with the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) allowing for accelerated examination of patent applications in one jurisdiction based on work product in the other jurisdiction. The pilot will start June 8, 2024 and extend for five years to June 7, 2029.

Applicants can request accelerated examination in China when a corresponding ARIPO patent application has one or more claims that are determined to be patentable by ARIPO. Note that applicants do not need to be Chinese or African applicants, only that they have an ARIPO patent application. Similarly, Chinese applicants can request accelerated examination in ARIPO when a Chinese application has one or more claims are determined to be patentable by CNIPA.

Since the launch of the first PPH pilot in November 2011, CNIPA has established PPH cooperation with patent examination agencies in 32 countries or regions.

The text of the announcement and guides for using the PPH can be found here (Chinese only).