Since our report a week ago, further progress has been made on Estonia’s two laws enabling it to participate in the Unified Patent Court (UPC) and unitary patent system.  First, the law authorising ratification of the UPC Agreement (UPCA) and the Agreement on a Nordic-Baltic regional division of the UPC has been published in the Estonian State Gazette here and will come into force on 26 June 2017.  Second, the law amending national law to provide for issues such as the jurisdiction of the UPC, the enforcement of its decisions, and the recognition of unitary patents was signed by the President today, the next step being publication in the State Gazette.

Therefore, Estonia will shortly be in a position to deposit its instrument of ratification of the UPCA with the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU (making its ratification effective under Article 84 UPCA).  Regarding Estonia’s consent to be bound by the UPCA’s Provisional Application Protocol, as reported here, a unilateral declaration (one way of expressing consent) has been published in the State Gazette; however, this has not yet been recorded by the EU Council (here), which suggests it may be recorded at the same time as Estonia deposits its instrument of ratification.