Romania is part of the Unitary Patent (UP) system since 1 September 2024, meaning that from that date all European patents with unitary effect will automatically cover also Romania. The country is the 18th participating EU member state to the UP system, adding a market of approx. 19 million people to the 330 million already covered. The instrument of ratification was deposited on 31 May 2024 by the Romanian government. Over 1,000 users already requested a delay in registration until after 1 September in order to protect their products also in Romania. 

The Unitary Patent entered into force on 1 June 2023; since then, the EPO has received over 34,000 requests for unitary effect and registered 33,000 UPs. Data from the European Patent Office (EPO) show that, in the first half of 2024, 63% of all requests for unitary effect originated from the 39 EPO member states. Around one third of the applications were filed by small businesses and individual inventors. The UP system, together with the Unified Patent Court (UPC), allows for a streamlined procedure at lower costs, uniform protection and greater legal certainty across participating EU member states.