Note: this page is under construction.

Why use Hague Web Services?

HWS are a secure, highly-available, reliable, HTTPS/REST API-based protocol for exchanging data with the Hague System, based on an asymmetric key signature that is part of the Financial-grade API Security Profile 1.0. They can be used for sending or receiving data through a set of endpoints that require secure authentication, as explained in details in the documentation below.

HWS is the preferred Hague data exchange channel.

HWS for EDI users

Why switch from EDI to Hague Web Services?

EDI is a legacy SFTP solution owned by the WIPO PCT department, and upon which the Hague department has no control or supervision. The Hague department depends on the PCT for granting accesses and exchanging files with IP Offices. In addition to this, exchanged files consequently undergo several transfers over several systems before they end up in the Hague System, increasing the risk of security leaks, data losses and human errors, with potentially important legal consequences.

On the contrary, HWS is an M2M protocol with one entry point on the office's side and another one in the Hague System, bound together by a state-of-the-art authentication and security protocol.

Moreover, EDI is on a sunset phase and bound to be decommissioned in the not so distant future.

For all these reasons, Offices already exchanging data with Hague via EDI are encouraged to migrate to the HWS.

Click here to find out how to transition from EDI to HWS.

How do HWS work?

HWS can be used to:

  • Send decisions or indirect applications
  • Check import status
  • Query processing status
  • Retrieve Hague Bulletins
  • Retrieve confidential copies (Examining IP Offices only).

Those are pictured in the below HWS workflow diagram, and will be explained in details further below:

Office to IB: importing decisions and indirect applications

Sending applications and decisions to Hague is done through a POST request, where the payload is the import package (see here).

The workflow for shipping packages to Hague is the following:

  • An import ID per package is returned on success, meaning that that the import package was received and will be processed by the IB.
  • This package import ID can later be used to retrieve the Service Request Number (GET request/import), and in turn the SRN can be used to retrieve the request status (GET request).


The above sequence diagram pictures the first 3 HWS endpoint calls listed earlier in this document:

  • Send decisions or indirect applications: POST /request
    • response: import status + import ID
  • Check import status: GET /request/import/{importid}
    • response: import status + SRN
  • Query processing status: GET /request/{ServiceRequestId}
    • response: SR status

Those are described in details in the HWS API guide.

IB to Office: retrieving the Bulletin and/or the confidential copies

Under construction.

Authenticating to HWS

Under construction.


Documentation

English, 2021-10-01

French, 2021-10-01

Spanish, 2021-10-01

Chinese, 2021-10-01

Russian, 2021-10-01

Arabic, 2023-04-01

Technical documentation

Presentation from the HWS webinar on May 11th, 2022



  • No labels