The protocol’s enactment will give legal status to the Unified Patent Court and to its staff in Italy.

The Italian government presented a bill for the enactment of the Protocol on Privileges and Immunities of the Unified Patent Court on 14 January 2017.

Italy is to host a local division of the Unified Patent Court in Milan, and must therefore enact the Protocol on Privileges and Immunities to give legal status to the Unified Patent Court and to its staff in Italian territory. The bill will now be examined and discussed by the Italian Parliament.

Italian Law No. 214/2016 ratifying the Unified Patent Court Agreement came into force on 25 November 2016; the ratification has not yet been officially communicated to the European Commission.