IPOS Introduces New Initiatives To Promote Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) has announced a series of enhancements to the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) and Global Patent Prosecution Highway (GPPH) programmes aimed at improving access to accelerated patent examination in Singapore. 

The following new initiatives will be rolled out in phases starting from July 2026. 

New initiatives

1. Faster first office action timelines
   • For PPH requests submitted on or after 1 July 2026, IPOS will aim to issue the first office action within 6 months instead of the current 10 months from the filing date of the PPH request. 
   • This enhancement reflects IPOS’s efforts to align with international standards on expedited examination, while providing applicants with greater certainty and predictability in managing their prosecution timelines. 

2. Simplified payment process
   • From 3 August 2026 to 31 December 2027 (both dates inclusive), Applicants filing a PPH request together with a new request for a search and/or examination report will be required to pay only 70% of the prevailing official fees. In comparison, Applicants currently pay the full fees upfront and then request for a 30% refund after PPH is requested. 
   • This measure is expected to lower the upfront cost barriers for examination requests and to eliminate the administrative burden associated with the refund requests. 
   • Further details on these 2 initiatives are provided in Circular No. 2/2026, available on the IPOS website under Circulars and Practice Directions. 

3. Clarified process for PPH & GPPH claim amendments 
   • One of the practical challenges for applicants using the PPH or GPPH programmes is making the claim amendments needed to align a Singapore patent application with claims that have already been found allowable by a participating foreign patent office. This can be particularly problematic where an examination request has already been filed but before the first written opinion is received, since voluntary amendments normally cannot be filed during this interim period.
   • To address this issue, IPOS has clarified that, where amendments are required to achieve correspondence between the Singapore claims and allowable foreign claims relied upon for a PPH or GPPH request, IPOS may issue an Invitation to Amend (ITA) to facilitate those amendments. An ITA is a notice issued by the Registrar in lieu of a written opinion, inviting an applicant to amend an application within 2 months to address issues identified during examination, where the relevant matters can be resolved through amendments alone.
   • This allows applicants to make the necessary amendments without withdrawing and refiling examination requests, simplifying the process and reducing the administrative burden. 
   • Further details are provided in Circular No. 3/2026, available on the IPOS website under Circulars and Practice Directions. 
   • Importantly, the circular does not introduce a new procedure. Rather, it formally explains and endorses a streamlined approach that IPOS has been applying since September 2023. For applicants, the key benefit is greater certainty around how PPH-related amendments will be handled during examination and a clearer pathway to obtaining the accelerated examination benefits offered by the PPH and GPPH programmes. 

What this means for applicants 

The faster issuance of first office actions, lower upfront examination costs, simplified payment process, and greater clarity regarding how ITAs can be issued to facilitate claim amendments required for PPH further enhance the attractiveness of the PPH and GPPH programmes. These measures are expected to encourage broader uptake of the PPH framework among applicants.