45. Invitation to Correct. If the receiving Office finds that the international application does not comply with any of the requirements of Article 11(1), it invites (Form PCT/RO/103) the applicant to submit the required correction(s) or, where the requirements concerned are those relating to a missing element, to confirm in accordance with Rule 20.6(a) that the element is incorporated by reference under Rule 4.18 (Rule 20.3(a)), unless the receiving Office has notified the International Bureau under Rule 20.8(a) that Rule 20.6 is incompatible with its national law.
45A. If, in determining whether the purported international application fulfills the requirements of Article 11(1), the receiving Office finds that an entire element referred to in Article 11(1)(iii)(d) or (e), or a part of the description, claims or drawings (including the case of all drawings), has or appears to have been erroneously filed, it proceeds as described in paragraphs 195 to 199 and 203A to 206.
46. Time Limit. The time limit, according to Rule 20.7, is two months from the date of the invitation. If this time limit expires after the expiration of 12 months from the filing date of the earliest application whose priority is claimed, the receiving Office must draw this circumstance to the attention of the applicant (Rule 20.3(a)); Form PCT/RO/103 contains a check-box for that purpose. This time limit is not extendible. Where neither a correction under Article 11(2) nor a notice under Rule 20.6(a) confirming the incorporation by reference of missing elements referred to in Article 11(1)(iii)(d) or (e) is received by the receiving Office prior to the expiration of this two-month time limit, any such correction or notice received by that Office after the expiration of that time limit but before it sends a notification under Rule 20.4(i) to the applicant (Form PCT/RO/104) shall be considered to have been received within the time limit (Rule 20.7(b)).
47. The applicant may respond to an invitation to correct the purported international application (Form PCT/RO/103) either by submitting a correction under Article 11(2), or, where the defect relates to the omission of an element referred to in Article 11(1)(iii)(d) (description) or (e) (claims), by confirming, under Rule 20.6(a), the incorporation by reference of the missing element. The second option is not available if the receiving Office has notified the International Bureau under Rule 20.8(a) that Rule 20.6(a) is incompatible with its national law. Such an Office either proceeds as described in Rule 20.8(a-ter) or promptly requests the International Bureau as receiving Office to agree, in accordance with the procedure outlined in paragraphs 278 to 281, to the transmittal of the international application under Section 333(b) and (c). Missing drawings are treated as “missing parts”, not “missing elements” since they are not required for an international filing date to be accorded under Article 11 (see Chapter VIII).