The EPO Select Committee has reported here that in its meeting on 25 October 2016 it unanimously approved the ‘Administrative instructions under Article 7 of the Rules relating to the Distribution of Fees amongst the participating member states’, which completed the legal preparations for the implementation of the Unitary patent system.  Regarding the technical implementation (such as IT systems for data transfer between the EPO and national offices), the Select Committee fine-tuned some aspects in March and the EPO has reported to the Committee on progress.  The Committee will next meet “at the latest in March 2017 or earlier, depending on the development of the question of the entry into force of the UPP/UPC at the political level, within the framework of the European Union.”