The German Patent and Trademark Office can be a Receiving Office according to Article 10 of PCT for persons being German nationals or being established or residing in Germany. If the applicant wants to have an international preliminary examination, such examination will be made by the European Patent Office.

The German Patent and Trademark Office can be a Designated Office for foreign applicants and, in case the applicant has filed a request for international preliminary examination, will be an Elected Office.

For entering the national phase the following requirements are to be observed: within 30 months from priority date, a copy of PCT request with copies of specification, drawings and abstract are to be filed at the German Patent and Trademark Office, together with the international search report, copy of amended documents if filed, all documents with German translations. A declaration of inventorship is needed as well as a power of attorney for the German Patent Attorney.

If an international preliminary examination took place, the examination record is to be filed. If such record was not written originally in German or English or French, a translation into one of these languages is to be filed simultaneously.