The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) is promoting the submission of patent electronic application files in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format (hereinafter referred to as "XML format"). Applicants and agencies should submit electronic patent application documents in compliance with CNIPA’s relevant data standards and specifications. The relevant matters are hereby notified as follows:

1. For patent applications filed on or after October 1, 2025 (inclusive), any requests for priority examination, accelerated examination, Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH), deferred examination, or collective examination must be submitted in XML format. In 2026, CNIPA’ system will be gradually upgraded to only accept XML-format submissions for patent electronic applications.

2. This promotion applies to electronic application documents for Chinese national applications for invention, utility model, and design patents, reexamination and invalidation requests, PCT applications entering the Chinese national phase including the request form, claims, description, drawings, abstract, design drawings, brief explanation, and their subsequent amendments and replacement documents. 

3. If an applicant fails to submit patent electronic application files in XML format or subsequently submits non-XML amendment/replacement documents, it will be deemed as an automatic waiver of the right for relevant examination policy.

Other than those specified in Article 2 of this Notice, exempted documents submitted together with application documents such as supporting materials, modification comparison pages, sequence tables may still be submitted in other electronic file formats acceptable to CNIPA. 

4. To facilitate applicants and agencies, patent electronic application data standards, XML conversion tools and User manuals are provided by CNIPA in the "Tool Download" section of the Patent Service System(http://cponline.cnipa.gov.cn). Applicants and agencies may create XML format files with CNIPA-provided conversion tools or editing function of the Patent Service System, or third-party tools in compliance with CNIPA data standards. 

5. Applicants and agencies shall be responsible for proofreading and ensuring the accuracy of the contents of submitted patent application documents.

CNIPA

May 20th, 2025