Progress was made today on Estonia’s two pieces of legislation enabling it to participate in the Unified Patent Court (UPC) and unitary patent system.  First, the Estonian President signed the law authorising ratification of the UPC Agreement and the Agreement on a Nordic-Baltic regional division of the UPC, and then the Riigikogu (Estonian parliament) adopted the bill (docket here) 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.  The ratification law will now progress to the final legislative step, which is publication in the State Gazette (following which an act generally comes into force after 10 days), and the bill amending national law will be submitted to the President for signature.

The UPC’s Nordic-Baltic regional division Agreement, signed by Estonia, Sweden, Latvia and Lithuania, provides that the language of proceedings will be English and the division’s seat and sub-registry will be in Stockholm, but it is intended for cases to be heard in multiple locations to the greatest extent possible with each country designating facilities for hearings.  The explanatory memorandum to Estonia’s ratification law states that Estonia will provide the facilities of the Harju County Court (in Tallinn).

Regarding Estonia’s consent to the UPC Agreement’s Provisional Application Protocol, as reported here, an order of the Estonian government containing a unilateral declaration that Estonia submits to the provisional application of the UPC Agreement provisions listed in the Protocol has been published in the State Gazette.  Therefore, it is expected that Estonia’s declaration will shortly be recorded by the EU Council here.