2.1 Introduction 

An applicant can request authorisation to rectify obvious mistakes in the international application. Rectification is authorised on condition that:

(i)the mistake is obvious to the skilled person, i.e. that something else was intended than what appears in the document concerned, and 

(ii)the rectification is obvious to the skilled person, i.e. that nothing else could have been intended than the proposed correction.  

The applicant may submit a request for rectification of an obvious mistake in the description, claims and drawings (not the abstract) of the international application (including amended documents) to the ISA or the IPEA, which is the competent body to authorise or refuse such rectification. If the obvious mistake is related to the request form (PCT/RO/101), it is the RO which authorises or refuses the rectification.

The language requirements for a request for rectification of an obvious mistake in the description, claims and drawings by the EPO as ISA or IPEA are set out in A‑VII, 3.1.