New Rates for PCT Filing fees and Search Fees at Thailand Receiving Office, Effective July 2025

The Department of Intellectual Property of Thailand has updated the PCT filing and international search fees, effective July 30, 2025. These changes affect applicants filing through the Thailand Receiving Office and vary depending on the filing format and international search authority selected.

The WIPO PCT – International Patent System helps applicants who wish to obtain patent protection in numerous countries using only a single application, language, and filing; the unified international application can be filed at one receiving office (RO) in each of the PCT Contracting States. The PCT system helps applicants reduce costs and extends the time for them to decide on the most appropriate countries in which to file, with filings permitted for up to 30 months from the first filing date. 

Changes to the “Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) PCT filing fees and International Search fees” which became effective on 30 July 2025, are shown in bold in the following tables; the changes impact international application filing fees and international search fees.

The international filing fees charged by the Thai receiving office (RO-TH) have changed as follows: (a) the fees for hard copy format, formerly THB 53,000, have increased to THB 57,000, (b)  the fees for electronic filings in non-editable .PDF, .JPEG, or .TIFF format, formerly THB 45,000, have increased to THB 48,000, and (c) the fees for electronic filings in an editable format, such as .XML or .DOCX, formerly THB 41,000, have increased to THB 44,000. In addition, the excess page fee for submissions in excess of thirty (30) sheets has increased to THB 700 (from THB 100) for both forms of international application filing. These changes are shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1: International Filing Fees

Interestingly, the WIPO’s 90% reduction in fees for filing a PCT International application continues to be effective for applications filed on or after 7 January 2025 by an applicant who is a natural person and is a national of and resides in one of the countries on the list of WIPO Applicability for 90% Reduction in Certain PCT Fees. 

Applicants who choose the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) as an International Search Authority (ISA) will receive a THB 4,000 reduction in the search fee, which will be THB 82,000 (reduced from THB 86,000). The office also provides additional special reduced International Search fees (please see item No. 1 in Table 2) for applicants who qualify as a “small entity” or “micro entity,” pursuant to the definitions set forth in the USPTO’s Consolidated Patent Rules – January 2025 Update. These reductions in the USPTO ISA are: THB 33,000 for a small entity (reduced from THB 34,600), and THB 16,500 for a micro entity (reduced from THB 17,300). 

The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), has reduced its search fee to THB 10,000 (reduced from THB 11,000). The search fees charged by the European Patent Office (EPO) have increased from THB 69,000 to THB 74,000, and the search fees charged by the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) also increased significantly, from THB 8,500 to THB 28,000, in both cases for general applicants; however, the KIPO search fee for designated applicants* has been reduced from THB 8,500 to THB 7,000. 

The search fees charged by the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) remain the same. 

All of the new International Search fees are shown in Table 2 below.

Table 2: International Search Fees

*Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Colombia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Peru, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam.

The revised PCT filing and search fees may have a significant effect on applicants wishing to file a PCT at the Thailand Receiving office (RO-TH).

Please do not hesitate to contact SCL Nishimura & Asahi’s Bangkok office if you would like to receive additional information about this or other IP matters.

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