Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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686. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to outline the timeframe for holding a referendum on the implementation of the unified patent court; the impact Brexit will have on its implementation; if the agreement will require renegotiation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5625/17]

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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687. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if she has had any discussions regarding the relocation of the proposed unified patent court life sciences division from London to Dublin arising from the Brexit referendum result; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5626/17]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 686 and 687 together.

The Programme for a Partnership Government proposes the holding of a number of referendums, including on Ireland’s participation in the International Agreement on a Unified Patent Court. Government has not made a decision on the issue of holding any particular constitutional referendums in 2017. The timing of referendums is a matter that the Government will collectively decide.

In relation to Brexit and issues arising in the context of implementation of the Unified Patent Court (UPC), I can advise the Deputy that in November 2016 the then Minister for Intellectual Property in the UK, Baroness Neville-Rolfe made a statement announcing the UK’s intention to ratify the UPC Agreement. The statement indicated an intention to continue with preparations in Parliament to allow the UK to ratify the Agreement in coming months. Assuming that the UK ratifies the UPC Agreement while still a member of the EU, this should pave the way for the UPC to come into effect. The issue of UK participation in the UPC post Brexit is unclear but is likely to form part of the wider Brexit negotiations facilitating UK withdrawal from the EU.

To come into effect, the UPC Agreement must be ratified by a minimum of 13 participating States, to include France, Germany and the UK. To date 11 Member States including France, have completed the ratification process and a number of other Member States expect to complete the ratification process shortly. The expectation is that the UPC will be operational by the end of 2017.

At this stage, given that the UK is expected to be a member of the Unified Patent Court from its introduction, the issue of relocation of the UPC Life Sciences division from London does not arise.