The China National Intellectual Property Administration ("CNIPA") recently issued the Announcement on Revising the Guidelines for Patent Examination (the "Announcement"), with effect from January 15, 2021.

According to the Announcement, the revisions are aimed to actively respond to the demands of rapid economic and technological development for examination rules, and to improve the quality and efficiency of patent examination. The Announcement sets out seven revisions to "Section 3.5, Chapter 10, Part II," "Section 4.2.3, Chapter 10, Part II" and other provisions of the original Guidelines for Patent Examination. Among others, the Announcement revises "the composition shall be drafted as the function-defining or use-defining type" and "In certain fields, such as the field of alloys, the intrinsic properties and/or uses of the invented alloy usually shall be specified" in the last paragraph of Section 4.2.3, Chapter 10, Part II of the original Guidelines for Patent Examination to read "the composition usually needs to be drafted as the function-defining or use-defining type" and "In certain fields, such as the field of alloys, the intrinsic functions and/or uses of the invented alloy usually shall be specified," respectively.

(Source: China National Intellectual Property Administration)