If the expiration date of a time limit is a statutory holiday or a weekend that is adjusted to be a working day, how should the expiration date be determined?
According to provisions in the Guidelines of Examinations of China, if the expiration date is a statutory holiday or a weekend that is adjusted to be a working day, the expiration date shall be the first working day after the statutory holiday or the weekend that is adjusted to be a working day. If that first working day falls on a weekend, the expiration date of the period shall be extended to Monday. For example, for an invention application entering China by way of the Paris Convention, with the earliest priority date being January 25, 2022, the expiration date of claiming priority should be January 30, 2023, because January 21 (Saturday)-January 27 (Friday) in 2023 is China's statutory holiday (Spring Festival), January 28 (Saturday) and January 29 (Sunday) in 2023 are weekends adjusted to be working days and in such case the expiration date of claiming priority is the Monday after the weekends that are adjusted to be the working days, i.e., January 30, 2023.
