On October 21, the 18th Conference of the Heads of Offices between the European Patent Office (EPO) and the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) was held in Chengdu, Sichuan. Shen Changyu, Commissioner of the CNIPA, and António Campinos, President of the EPO, attended the conference.

Shen noted that under the framework of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two offices, this year has seen close communication between working-level staff and experts across various fields. The bilateral collaboration has deepened, yielding anticipated results in areas including patent documentation and classification, examination processes, and automation. Shen also expressed optimism about next year's milestone, marking 40 years of cooperation between the two offices, and hoped to further expand bilateral cooperation, jointly pushing the partnership to a new stage.

Campinos highly praised the achievements of the bilateral collaboration and looked forward to continuing the in-depth cooperation between the two offices, especially on IP topics like search tool usage and collaboration between the Five IP offices (IP5). He emphasized the importance of sharing best practice to create new opportunities for collaboration.

Both offices agreed to issue a Joint Communiqué on October 22, announcing that the second phase in their joint Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) pilot project would start from December 1, 2024, with Chinese applicants able to pay their patent fees directly in Renminbi.

During the conference, an annual work plan for 2025 was signed between the two offices. While in Chengdu, Campinos and his delegation also visited local high-tech enterprises.

CNIPA Deputy Commissioner Lu Pengqi also attended the meeting.