UP/UPC Update: The German Bundestag approves ratification bill for the UPCA

On 26 November 2020, the Bundestag approved the ratification bill for the UPCA and the Protocol on Provisional Application. The decision signals wide cross-party political support in Germany for implementation of the Unitary Patent System.

Germany’s ratification is required for the entry into force of the UPCA. The remaining steps of the German ratification procedure is for the Bundesrat to review and vote on the legislation, after which the Federal President can promulgate the act by their signatures. The Bundesrat is expected to vote on the legislation on 18 December 2020, according to a press release by the UPC Preparatory Committee.

As previously reported, this is Germany’s second legislative process for ratification of the UPCA. The previous ratification process was interrupted after the Bundestag’s and the Bundesrat’s approvals, when the constitutional complaint against the ratification legislation was filed with the Federal Constitutional Court.

If Germany concludes the legislative process, the provisional application phase of the UPCA will start as soon as two further UPCA signatory states agree to be bound by the Protocol on Provisional Application. The UPC Preparatory Committee has announced that it will publish detailed timelines for the provisional application phase in due course.

Read the press release from the UPC Preparatory Committee here.

The minutes of the Bundestag’s vote are available here (in German).

Read Setterwalls’ update on the ratification legislation process here and here.