In this paper, we study the time-harmonic Maxwell problem with sign-changing permittivity and/or permeability, set in a domain of R^3. We prove, using the T-coercivity approach, that the well-posedness of the two canonically associated scalar problems, with Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions, implies the well-posedness of the Maxwell problem. This allows us to give simple and sharp criteria, obtained in the study of the scalar cases, to ensure that the Maxwell transmission problem between a classical dielectric material and a negative metamaterial is well-posed.