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The Japanese Patent Office (JPO) has a national phase deadline of 30 months after the priority date.
In Japan, the translation deadline may be extended to 32 months after the priority date. However, the initial filing must be made before the 30-month national phase deadline.
At the time of national entry into Japan, the original PCT and its Japanese translation must be filed, and any other amended version except the amendment that was made under PCT article 19th or 34th at the international stage cannot be submitted. Then applicants can file a voluntary amendment anytime thereafter, typically in conjunction with filing a request for examination.
Please note that if you have an allowed set of US or European claims for example, you should file your amendment before or in conjunction with filing a request for examination. In Japan, amendments made after receiving the first office action that are replacing a currently pending claim set with the new one would undoubtedly be deemed as the so-called "shift-amendment". If the application were deemed as "shift-amended", it would then inevitably be rejected without being put under further substantive examination, whether the claims as amended are objectively patentable or not. So our associates strongly recommend forgoing replacing the claim sets after the first office action in order to prevent things from getting harsher.
In Japan, a request for substantive examination must be filed within three years from the international filing date of the PCT application. It is possible to request an accelerated examination under PPH.
In Japan, divisional application can be filed at the following times:
When responding to an Office Action
When responding to a Decision of Rejection
When paying the registration fee after a Notice of Allowance is issued (if a Notice of Appeal is filed as a response to the Decision of Rejection, a divisional application cannot be filed at this step)
In Japan, the grant fee for a patent should be paid within 30 days from the date of receipt of the Notice of Allowance. The first three annuities are due simultaneously with the grant fee. During the 3rd year of the patent validity, the 4th annuity should be paid, and so on.