THE PATENTS EXAMINATION REGULATIONS, 2003 as published in GenN 25 in GG 24290 of 17 January 2003 The Patent Examination Board, established in terms of section 21 of the Patents Act, 1978 (Act 57 of 1978), has, in terms of section 21 (3) (a) of the Patents Act, made the following regulations and prescribed the following syllabuses in regard to the prescribed examination referred to in section 20 of the Patents Act, 1978: DEFINITIONS 1. In these regulations, unless the context indicates otherwise'Board' means the Patent Examination Board established under section 21 of the Act; 'candidate' means a person who presents himself/herself to the Patent Examination Board with the intention of enrolling for or who has already enrolled, for the Patent Examinations; 'Chairperson' means the Chairperson of the Board appointed in terms of section 21 (2) (a) of the Act; 'examination' means the prescribed examination referred to in section 20 of the Act; 'journal' means the patent journal referred to in section 14 of the Act; 'office' means the patent office established under section 5 (1) of the Act; 'the Act' means the Patents Act, 1978 (Act 57 of 1978); and 'the previous regulations' means the Patent Examination Regulations, as amended, published in the October 1993 edition of the Patent Journal. EXAMINATIONS 2. (a) The examination shall be held during or around midyear, on such dates as the Chairperson may determine, and the Board may, in its discretion and having regard to, inter alia, the number of candidates, conduct the examinations in any one of four centres, namely, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Durban, Pretoria or such other centre as it may determine; and (b) The examination dates shall be made known to the candidates enrolled for the examination at least eight weeks prior to such dates, either by written notification or by publication in the journal or both. CONDITIONS FOR ENROLMENT 3. Only candidates who qualify in terms of at least one of the following criteria shall be entitled to enrol for the examinations: