German parliament to vote on UPC privileges and immunities legislation

20.04.2017

The draft law (bill 18/11238) to enable Germany to ratify the Protocol on Privileges and Immunities of the Unified Patent Court (PPI) is listed for its final reading and vote in the Bundestag (parliament) on 27 April 2017.  As stated by the Bundestag here and here (item 42.a), there will be no debate, but the Committee for Legal and Consumer Affairs will have published a report on the bill.  If passed by the Bundestag, the bill will be submitted as an act to the Bundesrat (Federal Council) for approval.  The PPI will give legal personality to the UPC and provide the Court and its judges, Registrar and other staff with the various privileges and immunities. One section of the Court’s central division will be in Munich, and four local divisions will also be in Germany: in Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Mannheim and Munich.  As reported here, the Bundesrat had already issued a ‘statement’ on the bill concerning the privileges and immunities relating to the taxation of the salaries of the judges, Registrar and other staff, and the government responded to that statement on 29 March.

Regarding the other two laws required for Germany to participate in the UPC system (one law to ratify the UPC Agreement and another law to amend the national patent law), as reported here, these have now been approved by both the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, and the remaining steps required for the acts to be promulgated are: countersignature by the government, certification by the President, and publication in the Bundesgesetzblatt (Federal Law Gazette).

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