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 Mar 2020

ASPEC Request Form:

ASPEC Claims Correspondence Table (12 Feb 2014)

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

For past events, please click here.