The Italian Undersecretary for EU policy Sandro Gozi is to sign the Protocol on the Provisional Application of the Unified Patent Court Agreement today on the margins of the EU Competitiveness Council taking place in Brussels.

The protocol allows the application of parts of the Unified Patent Court Agreement – such as the recruitment of judges and testing of IT system – before the agreement actually comes into force, and allows for early registration of opt-outs from the Unified Patent Court’s jurisdiction.

The agreement will enter into force when 13 signatory countries mandatorily including France, Germany and the United Kingdom have ratified the protocol. The number of countries that have ratified has reached 12. Two mandatory countries, Germany and the United Kingdom, are not yet among them.

Italy’s ratification of the Unified Patent Court Agreement was officially notified last week.