This means that Belgium is the fourth country to have effectively welcomed the new Unified European Patent. Belgium ratified the Agreement on the Unified Patent Court on 6 June 2014, after it had already been approved by the Belgian Parliament before the elections that were held on 24 May 2014.
Belgium intends to establish a local division of the Unified Patent Court in the city of Brussels. The Brussels division of the Court will operate in a total of four languages, namely German, French, English and Dutch.
In the mean time, the Agreement has also been ratified by Denmark on June 20. Denmark has decided to install a local division of the UPC, which will operate in Danish and in English. The other three countries that have already ratified the Agreement are Austria, Sweden and France. In order for the Agreement on the Unified Patent Court and the Unified Patent Agreement to enter into force, it must be ratified by a minimum of 13 countries, which must include France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Germany and the United Kingdom are expected to complete their own ratification of the Agreement in 2015, which means that it is only a matter of time before the Agreement on the Unified Patent Court enters into force.