The Council of the EU has recorded here that Slovenia signed the Protocol on Privileges and Immunities (PPI) of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) on 23 June 2017.  As reported here, Slovenia is planning to host a local division of the UPC, and also (as provided by Article 35(1) UPC Agreement) one of the two seats of the UPC’s Patent Mediation and Arbitration Centre (the other seat being in Lisbon).  The PPI provides the Court with the privileges and immunities necessary for its function, and grants certain privileges and immunities to the Judges, Registrar and all other employees of the Court (which includes those of the Mediation and Arbitration Centre, as that is considered part of the Court).

Slovenia’s law ratifying the UPC Agreement came into force in October 2016, but Slovenia has not yet deposited its instrument of ratification with the EU Council’s General Secretariat (required for the ratification to come into effect).  Also, in October 2015, Slovenia was one of the original signatories of the UPC Agreement’s Protocol on Provisional Application (PPA); however, while in some countries signature alone constitutes binding consent, in the case of Slovenia and some other countries signature alone is not sufficient and a further step, such as ratification or approval is required (Article 2 PPA).