Austrian Parliament decides to ratify UPC Protocol on Provisional Application
November 19, 2021
Today, the Austrian Nationalrat (lower Chamber of the Austrian Parliament) unanimously decided in favour of ratifying the Protocol to the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court on Provisional Application (PPA). After the next step of consideration by the Bundesrat (upper Chamber of the Austrian Parliament), which should take at maximum 8 weeks, Austria will be ready to deposit its instrument of ratification of the PPA.
Since the recent ratifications of the PPA by Germany and Slovenia, Austria is expected to be the thirteenth Signatory State to express its consent to be bound by the PPA. In line with Art 3(1) PPA, the Protocol will then enter into force the day after Austria’s ratification will be received by the EU Council General Secretariat being the depositary for the UPC Agreement .
The regularly updated overview on the ratification process, which has been compiled by the epi Litigation Committee, can be consulted here.