If an invention relates to a 'green' or environmentally-friendly technology, applicants can now request accelerated processing of their application. The "green" patents initiative was partly a result of the recent UK/China Economic and Financial Dialogue

To qualify, an applicant must make a equest in writing indicating that their application relates to a "green" or environmentally-friendly technology and indicate which actions they wisth to accelerate (search, combined search and eexamination, publication, and/or examination). The Office will require no further reasons.

According to the press release, "the ‘green’ patents initiative was one of the key deliverables announced at the UK/China Economic and Financial Dialogue on May 11, with China already agreeing to adopt the proposal. The Intellectual Property Office is working with other major trading partners to get them to sign-up to the green patents fast-track system.

In the U.S., so-called "petitions to make special "(except those based on applicant’s health, age, or the PPH pilot program), are required to comply with the detailed requirements for the accelerated examination program.

For further details, see the press release.