- Legal Background Prior to 2016: Regulations Without an Enforcement Mechanism
For a prolonged period, the demand to shorten the substantive examination timeline for patent applications in Vietnam has attracted considerable attention, particularly from technology companies, foreign-invested enterprises, and projects with short commercial life cycles. However, prior to 2016, the Vietnamese intellectual property legal framework had not established specific mechanisms or programs to facilitate accelerated patent examination in response to this demand.
Under the Intellectual Property Law 2005 (amended and supplemented in 2009 and 2019), Article 119 stipulates that the time limit for substantive examination of a patent application is 18 months from the date of publication of the application or from the date on which a request for substantive examination is filed. While this provision serves as the legal basis for determining the statutory examination timeline, it does not grant applicants the right to request a reduction or acceleration of such time limits.
In parallel, the legal framework governing industrial property fees and charges acknowledged, from a financial perspective, the concept of accelerated examination. Specifically, Circular No. 22/2009/TT-BTC issued by the Ministry of Finance introduced a fee schedule that included items for “accelerated examination (performance of procedures ahead of the prescribed deadline) for industrial property registration applications”. The existence of these fee items indicates that, as a matter of fiscal policy, Vietnamese law prior to 2016 permitted—at least in principle—the collection of fees associated with accelerated examination services.
Nevertheless, due to the absence of specific guidance or detailed provisions in the Intellectual Property Law or its implementing regulations, accelerated examination procedures were not implemented in practice. In particular, the law did not provide for a distinct procedural framework governing accelerated examination requests, nor did it specify the rights of applicants seeking such acceleration or the relevant procedural steps to be followed.
As a result, prior to 2016, accelerated examination in Vietnam existed merely as a fragmented concept reflected in fee regulations, rather than as a fully legislated administrative procedure. In practice, applicants seeking to expedite substantive examination could only submit reminder letters urging the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam (IPVN) to issue examination results at an earlier date. However, the timing of such results remained entirely dependent on the overall workload of the Office and the internal scheduling of individual examiners.
Consequently, actual substantive examination periods often extended from 24 to 36 months, or even longer, thereby significantly affecting technology commercialization activities and corporate investment decisions.
- Transitional Phase: Accelerated Examination Through International Cooperation Mechanisms
In the absence of an independent accelerated examination procedure, international patent examination cooperation programs and mechanisms for utilizing foreign examination results emerged as practical solutions to shorten the time required to obtain patent protection in Vietnam.
2.1. ASEAN Patent Examination Co-operation (ASPEC)
ASPEC is the first regional patent examination cooperation program within ASEAN. It allows the intellectual property office of one ASEAN member state to make reference to Search and Examination (S&E) results conducted by the intellectual property office of another ASEAN member state during its own patent examination process.
At present, ASPEC involves nine participating intellectual property offices from the following countries: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Under the ASPEC framework, the receiving intellectual property office is not obligated to accept or follow the conclusions reached by the office that previously conducted the S&E. The substantive examination and the decision to grant or refuse a patent remain independent and must comply with the national laws and regulations of each participating member state. The objectives of ASPEC include reducing examination workloads, shortening processing timelines, and enhancing the quality of patent search and examination.
In general, a patent application filed with the intellectual property office of one ASEAN member state, including Vietnam, must have a corresponding application filed in another ASEAN member state, typically linked through a priority claim under the Paris Convention.
The documentation for an ASPEC request includes:
- The ASPEC Request Form;
- A copy of the Search Report;
- A copy of the Substantive Examination Report;
- The claims cited in the examination report.
Where available, the applicant may also submit written opinions issued by the examiner and a list of prior-art documents relied upon during examination at the corresponding ASEAN intellectual property office.
Although ASPEC enables the effective use of regional examination resources and has resulted in a substantial reduction of examination time in Vietnam—from the standard 18 months to approximately 9 months, and in later stages to around 6 months—the number of patent applications satisfying ASPEC eligibility requirements has remained limited. As a result, the overall practical impact of the program has been modest.
2.2. Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)
The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is a bilateral cooperation mechanism that allows IPVN to accelerate substantive examination based on positive examination results issued by a foreign intellectual property office. In Vietnam, PPH has been applied to patent applications with corresponding applications that have been accepted for grant by the Japan Patent Office (JPO) or the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), provided that no substantive examination result has yet been issued for the Vietnamese application.
The documentation for a PPH request includes:
- Information relating to the corresponding Japanese or Korean application (application number, patent number, etc.);
- An English translation of the claims that have been accepted or deemed allowable, together with any amendments (if applicable);
- A claim correspondence table comparing the claims of the Vietnamese application with those of the Japanese or Korean patent;
- Additional documents as may be requested by the examiner during examination.
Through PPH, the substantive examination period in Vietnam is typically reduced from 18 months to approximately twelve 12 months from the date on which the PPH request is accepted. However, due to annual quotas on the number of PPH requests accepted, competition for access to the program remains high, which has limited its practical accessibility and widespread use.
2.3. Request to Apply Corresponding Foreign Examination Results
In addition to ASPEC and PPH, since November 2023, applicants in Vietnam have been permitted to request IPVN to apply positive examination results from corresponding foreign applications as a reference in assessing the patentability of Vietnamese patent applications. Such requests may be submitted before IPVN issues a substantive examination result. In practice, examination outcomes from offices such as the European Patent Office (EPO) and the intellectual property offices of the United States, Japan, Korea, and China are often prioritized due to their high quality and reliability.
The application file includes:
- Information relating to the cited corresponding application or patent;
- A copy of the substantive examination results of the corresponding foreign application;
- An English translation of the specification and the claims that have been accepted or deemed allowable;
- Other documents that may be requested during examination on a case-by-case basis.
The application of foreign examination results typically shortens the substantive examination timeline in Vietnam to approximately 12 months, compared to the statutory 18 months or the longer durations commonly experienced in practice.
- The 2025 Amended Intellectual Property Law: Codifying Accelerated Examination
The Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Intellectual Property of 2025 (Law No. 131/2025/QH15), adopted on December 10, 2025, and scheduled to take effect on April 1, 2026, marks a significant milestone in the reform of patent rights establishment procedures in Vietnam.
For the first time, Vietnamese law formally recognizes the applicant’s right to request accelerated substantive examination through the addition of Clause 2, Article 119 of the Intellectual Property Law.
Under the new provisions:
Applicants are entitled to submit a request for accelerated examination;
Such request must be filed within 03 months from the date of submission of the request for substantive examination;
If the request is accepted, substantive examination shall be conducted in accordance with an abbreviated examination procedure.
The introduction of a clearly defined three-month window reflects a deliberate shift in legislative policy—from an administrative-capacity-driven approach toward one that responds more directly to the legitimate needs of the innovation and commercialization market.
- Conclusion
The codification of an accelerated examination mechanism in the 2025 Amended Intellectual Property Law clearly demonstrates the Vietnamese Government’s commitment to administrative reform in the field of intellectual property. Vietnam is gradually transitioning toward a legal framework that is more transparent, predictable, and aligned with international best practices.
For patent applicants—particularly technology companies and start-ups—accelerated examination offers tangible benefits, including shorter timeframes for rights establishment, reduced commercial risk, enhanced capital-raising potential, and increased intellectual property asset value at early stages. Greater procedural control over examination timelines also enables enterprises to formulate more effective patent protection and exploitation strategies.
This reform contributes to strengthening the competitiveness of Vietnam’s investment environment and reinforces the country’s commitment to intellectual property protection and the development of an innovation-driven ecosystem. In the current context, accelerated examination is no longer merely an expedited procedural option, but has evolved into a significant policy instrument supporting growth based on knowledge and technology.
From a professional advisory perspective, early understanding and proper application of these newly established mechanisms will be critical for applicants seeking to fully leverage the advantages offered by the 2025 Amended Intellectual Property Law.
