What is ASPEC

The ASEAN Patent Examination Co-operation (ASPEC) is the first regional patent work-sharing programme among nine participating ASEAN Member States (AMS) IP Offices of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam. The programme was launched on 15 June 2009.

The purpose of this programme is to share search and examination results between the participating offices to allow applicants in participating countries to obtain corresponding patents faster and more efficiently. The programme will potentially reduce duplication on the search and examination work done, thereby saving time and effort. Additionally, search and examination work done on a corresponding application serves as a useful reference in producing quality reports.

ASPEC operates in the English language in all participating AMS IP Offices and is free-of-charge to the applicant at any participating AMS IP Office. However local search and examination fees at AMS IP Offices will still apply.

Please find the ASPEC Document Submission Guideline and request form as follows.

ASPEC Document Submission Guideline:

ASPEC Document Submission Guideline - Release 21 May 2018

ASPEC Request Form:

ASPEC Claims Correspondence Table (12 Feb 2014)

ASPEC Request Form (Revised 12 Feb 2014) - Sample

Table on the Developments and Milestones of the ASEAN Patent Examination Cooperation Programme

Event	Developments and Milestones
15 Jun 2009	Commencement of the ASPEC Programme
5 – 6 May 2011	Inaugural Meeting of the ASPEC Taskforce Representatives from each participating ASEAN Member State IP Office came together as a working group to work collaboratively towards the sharing of patent search and examination results between IP Offices so as to enhance the cooperation between the offices in the area of patent search and examination. These working group meetings would be held regularly to enable the effective and efficient implementation of the ASPEC Programme in participating ASEAN Member State IP Offices.
14 – 15 Dec 2011	2^nd Meeting of the ASPEC Taskforce
Apr 2012	Revision of the ASPEC Notice and Procedures to incorporate: (i) the adoption of the English language as the operational language ; and (ii) the optional requirement for a claims correspondence table
16 – 17 May 2013	3^rd Meeting of the ASPEC Taskforce
July 2013	Revision of the ASPEC Notice and Procedures to incorporate: (i) accelerated prosecution of corresponding patent application(s) at the second AMS IP Office(s) until grant when an ASPEC request is filed; (ii) relaxation of translation verification requirements; and (iii) requirement of at least one claim to be determined bythe first AMS IP Office as allowable/patentable.
27 Aug 2013	Initial ASPEC request made to the Department of Intellectual Property, Thailand (DIP) and substantive examination request advanced out of turn
28 – 29 Aug 2013	1^st ASEAN Community of Practice (CoP) for Patent Examiners and 4^th Meeting of the ASPEC Taskforce
10 Sep 2013	Initial ASPEC request made to the National Office of Intellectual Property Of Vietnam (NOIP) and substantive examination request advanced out of turn
14 Oct 2013	Initial ASPEC request made to the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHIL) and substantive examination request advanced out of turn
6 Dec 2013	Initial ASPEC request made to the Directorate General of Intellectual Property Rights, Indonesia (DGIPR) and substantive examination request advanced out of turn
Nov 2013	Revision of the ASPEC Notice and Procedures to incorporate the possibility for ASPEC requests to be filed at any time before the final decision of grant or refusal issued by the AMS IP Office
26 February 2014	First Office Action based on initial ASPEC request established by IPOPHIL
18 Mar 2014	First Office Action based on initial ASPEC request established by NOIP
9 May 2014	2^nd ASEAN CoP for Patent Examiners and 5^th Meeting of the ASPEC Taskforce
22 May 2014	Initial ASPEC request made to the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) and substantive examination request advanced out of turn
28 May 2014	First Office Action based on initial ASPEC request established by DGIPR
1 July 2014	First Office Action based on initial ASPEC request established by DIP
July 2014	Revision of the ASPEC Notice and Procedures to incorporate the additional scenario for PCT national phase entry applications in AMS IP Offices to be corresponding applications, whereby there is no Paris Convention priority link between the PCT application and an application from a Paris Convention member country
11 August 2014	Initial ASPEC request made to the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) and substantive examination request advanced out of turn
25 August 2014	Patent based on initial ASPEC request granted by DIP
22 September 2014	First Office Action based on initial ASPEC request established by MyIPO
23 September 2014	First Office Action based on initial ASPEC request established by IPOS
25 September 2014	Patent based on initial ASPEC request granted by MyIPO
15 December 2014	Patent based on initial ASPEC request granted by NOIP
13 January 2015	Patent based on initial ASPEC request granted by IPOS
4 Feb 2015	3^rd ASEAN CoP for Patent Examiners and 6^th Meeting of the ASPEC Taskforce