German Parliament Passes Bill for Re-ratification of UPCA

On 26 November 2020 the German Parliament (Bundestag) passed the bill required for German ratification of the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA) with 570 votes in favour, easily achieving the two-thirds majority of the 709 Bundestag members mandated by the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC).

The bill must now be approved by the Federal Council (Budesrat) before signature by the German Government and the Federal President.

There is a possibility of a further complaint to the German Federal Constitutional Court (FCC). If such a complaint is received, the FCC could again ask the Federal President not to ratify the UPCA and so delay German ratification.

Assuming that Germany is able to complete the ratification process, in order for the Protocol on Provisional Application (PPA) to start (which is necessary to implement the UPCA), two more countries are required to ratify the PPA.