Thank you for your question.
I am Samir Chhabra, director general of marketplace framework policy at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.
I'm going to answer your question in English. It's a little bit technical.
The changes that are being proposed to the Patent Act are really to implement changes that were agreed to under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, CUSMA. The nature of the changes is regarding the availability of an additional patent term when an unreasonable delay occurs. CUSMA holds that an unreasonable delay occurs when a patent applicant has to wait for longer than three years after their examination begins or more than five years after they initially file.
This allows for the extension of a patent term to accommodate for any delays that might have been on the part of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office during the administration of it.
What that means is that, if CIPO takes longer than the prescribed amount of time, which will be worked out through regulations to follow, the applicant would be enabled to have an extension of their patent term that is equal to the amount of time that was taken on the part of CIPO that was beyond what's considered a reasonable amount of time in the CUSMA.