On 6 April 2026, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), together with ASEAN partner IP offices, announced the launch of the ASEAN Patent Examination Co-operation Plus (ASPEC+) programme.
For applicants seeking regional patent protection, ASPEC+ offers the potential for enhanced efficiency and greater alignment of examination outcomes, subject to careful planning and an informed prosecution strategy when guided by experienced regional counsel.
What is ASPEC+?
ASPEC+ is a new optional route under the existing ASPEC framework that enables simultaneous and collaborative patent examination across participating ASEAN IP offices. It is important to note that the original, regular ASPEC remains available, and ASPEC+ is intended as an additional option designed to better align examination outcomes and timelines across chosen ASEAN jurisdictions.
How ASPEC+ operates
Applicants file an ASPEC+ request by selecting a primary examining office (“Office A”) and one or more participating “Office B” offices. Office A conducts the initial search and examination and shares its findings with the other participating offices.
The participating offices then review each other’s work, exchange views, and coordinate their examinations and prior art search results. Through this coordinated approach, the offices aim to issue identical or closely aligned examination results, where national laws permit, within the target timeline of 10 to 14 months. However, each office ultimately issues its own report according to its national legislation and practices, without being bound by other offices’ results.
There is currently no official fee to request ASPEC+ participation, although standard national search and examination fees continue to apply at each office.
For a detailed introduction of the ASPEC+ Programme, please refer to the ASPEC website.
ASPEC+ vs Regular ASPEC | Practical considerations
Regular ASPEC
The regular ASPEC programme operates sequentially, relying on a positive examination result from one IP office to accelerate prosecution in other ASEAN IP offices. If the applicant has already obtained an allowable set of claims in one ASEAN country and want to use it to accelerate in other ASEAN countries, the applicant may choose the regular ASPEC route.
ASPEC+
By contrast, ASPEC+ is designed to operate in parallel in the selected IP offices from the beginning of substantive examination. The applicant is required to file the ASPEC+ request at the same time at all the selected IP Offices for applications with either a new or pending examination request, provided that no office action or report has been issued. The claims in the corresponding applications must be identical or sufficiently correspond to each other.
In addition, certain restrictions apply for some of the participating IP Offices. For instance, ASPEC+ requests are not accepted for pharmaceutical patent applications in the Philippines, or for divisional applications in Malaysia.
Since this is a new mechanism, some practical considerations are still emerging. For example, the timelines for requesting examination may vary across the selected IP Offices (e.g. in Thailand, a request for substantive examination can only be filed after completion of formality examination stage and publication), which may affect the timing of filing an ASPEC+ request.
Differences in how various IP Offices assess the patent eligibility of certain subject matter (e.g. medical use claims) may also affect the ability to align claims across different jurisdictions.
Another point to consider is that, unlike regular ASPEC—where a request for acceleration is made based on a positive examination result from one IP office—this is not the case with ASPEC+.
Under ASPEC+, the request must be filed with all selected IP offices before any office action is issued. As a result, the examination outcome remains uncertain, and it is possible that adverse examination reports may be issued by all participating offices.
Even if the examination reports are identical and similar arguments are submitted, different patent offices may take different views on those arguments, potentially leading to divergent outcomes at later stages.
Therefore, applicants seeking to prosecute patent applications simultaneously across multiple ASEAN countries, with the potential to better align the initial examination outcomes, may consider using the ASPEC+ route.
However, careful consideration is required when coordinating the prosecution strategies across different jurisdictions using this program.
How Spruson & Ferguson can assist
The launch of ASPEC+ underscores ASEAN IP offices’ continued commitment to supporting innovation-driven growth and cross-border business expansion. As further operational guidance on ASPEC+ becomes available, early strategic planning will be key to extracting full value from this initiative.
With a long‑standing presence in Singapore and across the Asia‑Pacific, Spruson & Ferguson is well positioned to assist clients in leveraging ASPEC+ effectively.
Our patent attorneys and agents can support clients by:
- assessing suitability of ASPEC+ compared with regular ASPEC or alternative acceleration routes based on commercial objectives and the subject-matter of the invention
- coordinating prosecution strategies across selected ASEAN jurisdictions to maximise the benefits of harmonised examination
- advising on office selections under ASPEC+ to align with clients’ enforcement and market-entry priorities
- preparing consistent, high‑quality responses to examination reports where similar objections arise across offices
- integrating ASPEC+ into global filing strategies, including PCT-based pathways
Reach out to our experts for assistance.
Contributor: Eddie Ho Ming Xian, Associate, Singapore