Law - Amendment of PCT Application Under Article 34

While amendments of an international application under Article 19 are exclusively limited to amendments of the claims, under Article 34, the applicant may amend the claims, the description and the drawings before the start of the international preliminary examination. In order to be assured that the amendments will be considered by the Examiner, Patent Partner recommends that Article 34 amendments be filed with the Demand, that is, no later than 19 months of the priority date or the PCT filing date, whichever is earlier.

The position of the USPTO on this issue is described in the following section(s) of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP):

MPEP 1871 - Processing Amendments Filed Under Article 19 and Article 34 Prior to or at the Start of International Preliminary Examination
MPEP 1864.01 - Amendments Filed with Demand
37 CFR 1.484 - Conduct of International Preliminary Examination

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