China and Portugal have agreed to extend for five years an arrangement whereby the Portuguese authorities swiftly consider applications for patents made by Chinese, and the Chinese authorities swiftly consider applications for patents made by Portuguese, the Chinese patent office says.

The rules of the arrangement will remain unchanged until the end of 2026, the Chinese National Intellectual Property Administration announced in writing on Monday.

According to a written statement by the Portuguese Institute of Industrial Property, the arrangement was started in 2014 and renewed in 2019.

In January the Chinese patent office announced an agreement with its Brazilian counterpart to make it easier for holders of Chinese patents to obtain equivalent patents in Brazil.