On September 2021, the African Regional Intellectual Property
Organization (ARIPO), with the support of the European Patent
Office (EPO), launched the ARIPO Regional Patent Examination
Training (ARPET) programme.
The programme is predicted to run for 18 months and aims to
improve its participants' capability when conducting
high-quality searches, as well as examining local patent
applications, incorporating the EPO's best practices.
ARIPO's examining activity
ARIPO is one of Africa's regional offices and encompasses 19
member states (mostly English-speaking countries). Except for
Swaziland, all the member countries can grant a national patent in
addition to, or instead of, a regional patent.