UK lawmakers selected to scrutinise UPC legislation
The UK Members of Parliament (MPs) who will sit on the committee which will scrutinise the next stage of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) legislation have been confirmed.
Seven MPs were confirmed earlier today, October 31, and will join seven members of the House of Lords, who were selected in July, to create the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments (SIs).
The committee will elect its chair at the first meeting, although this date is unknown. It will be scrutinising an SI to implement the Protocol on Privileges and Immunities (PPI), which will allow the UK to ratify the UPC Agreement.
As explained in a WIPR article, the PPI is necessary to give the UPC the privileges and immunities it needs to operate, such as certain immunities from lawsuits for its judges and staff, special tax arrangements and the protection of the court’s documents and assets.
Of the seven MPs, three are from the Labour and Conservative parties, and the other is from the Scottish National Party (SNP).
Dan Carden, Vicky Foxcroft and Derek Twigg are all Labour MPs, while John Lamont, Lee Rowley and Sir Robert Syms are Conservatives. Patrick Grady is from the SNP.
The seven lords are Baroness Bloomfield and Lord Lexden of the Conservative Party, crossbenchers Baroness Meacher and Lord Rowe-Beddoe, Lord Morris and Lord Rowlands of the Labour Party, and Baroness Scott of the Liberal Democrats
The latest appointments come after confirmation from UK IP minister and Conservative MP Jo Johnson that the next step of the UPC legislative process will see the committee scrutinise the order.
On October 25, when asked by an Australian resident on the UK parliament website what the next stage is, Johnson confirmed that the SI for the bill is to be scrutinised by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments.
He added that a separate Order on Privileges and Immunities for the UPC had been laid in Holyrood (Scottish parliament) on August 30 and had passed scrutiny on September 19.
The Scottish SI was passed on October 25.
Along with the bill to be scrutinised by the committee, this Scottish SI will give effect to the PPI and allow the UK to ratify the protocol and also the UPC Agreement, according to a statement by law firm Bristows.
The UPC has been hit with a number of setbacks, although it has been ratified by 14 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden.
The UK, alongside Germany and France, is one of three countries whose signature is mandatory for the UPC to take effect.
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