The Hong Kong Intellectual Property Department (HKIPD) has been accepting patent applications filed via Paris. As Hong Kong patent applications are now examined by the CNIPA (CNIPA set up a group only for the examination of HK patent applications), the HK patent application examination could be used for filing patent applications in China.

Thus, any application that intends to enter China via the PCT system could file an application in the English language in Hong Kong first. If the application does not face any obstacles, the First Office Action will be issued within six months.

Then the applicant would be able to decide whether to proceed with filing the Chinese application based on the examination result of the HK patent application and benefit from not having to pay the Chinese translation fee.