The draft legislation enabling Austria to ratify the Protocol on the Provisional Application (PPA) of the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA) completed its passage through parliament on 2 December, when the Federal Council voted unanimously not to raise any objection to the National Council’s approval on 19 November. The Federal Council’s decision followed the unanimous vote on 30 November of its Committee on Innovation, Technology and the Future not to raise any objection. The final steps to promulgation of the law are authentication by the Federal President, countersignature by the Federal Chancellor, and publication in the Federal Law Gazette.

Assuming Austria then ratifies the PPA and deposits the instrument of ratification with the Council of the EU, sufficient countries will have ratified (or otherwise consented to be bound by the provisional application of certain UPCA provisions) for the provisional application phase to start, and final preparations for the introduction of the UPC and unitary patent system can start in earnest.