Draft legislation enabling the Republic of Slovenia to ratify the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court was signed into law by the President of the Republic last Friday, 30 September 2016 (see here).  The ratification bill was approved by the National Assembly (the first chamber of the Slovenian parliament) on 22 September 2016, with 48 votes in favour and 11 against.  That same day, the bill was submitted to the National Council (the second chamber of the Slovenian parliament representing social, economic, professional and local interests), which did not raise any objections to its enactment.  Following the signing of the bill by the President of the Republic, the final text of the law (in Slovenian here) has been forwarded to the Official Journal for its official publication, which may take place this Friday, 7 October 2016.

Following official publication, the Slovenian government will be free to deposit its instrument of ratification with the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU, and thus become the 12th Member State to ratify the UPC Agreement.  Slovenian State Secretary for Economic Development and Technology, Aleš Cantarutti, confirmed at the EU Competitiveness Council last Thursday that it is the intention of the Slovenian government to complete the ratification process soon.  At the meeting, representatives of various other Member States also expressed support for the unitary patent system.  Among these were Ministers from Hungary and Romania, which are yet to show progress towards ratification of the UPC Agreement.