Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for AI and Digital
Government (): Our parallel importation
laws, which regulate the common practice of importing genuine
physical goods that are first sold in other countries into the UK
for re-sale, play an important role in many sectors of the UK's
economy. These laws are governed by the UK's choice of an
exhaustion of intellectual property (IP) rights regime. Or what
is commonly referred to as an “IP exhaustion regime”.
An exhaustion regime determines the geographical scope of foreign
territory in which an importer must seek the IP rights holders'
(e.g. a trade mark, patent, design or copyright owner) permission
to parallel import a good that is protected by their IP right(s)
into the UK for re-sale.
Businesses have been waiting for clarity on what the UK's
parallel importation laws will be for too long and are rightly
seeking certainty on this matter.
I am therefore pleased to announce to the House that the
Government has taken a clear decision on this matter. Today we
will publish the Government's response to the 2021 consultation
on the UK's future exhaustion regime. It confirms that the UK
will be maintaining its bespoke exhaustion regime – which we have
called the “UK+ regime” – and sets out the extensive
analysis and stakeholder engagement which underpins our decision.
This provides the clarity that stakeholders across the UK have
been calling for, helping to provide confidence to businesses,
investors, and consumers that the UK will continue our balanced
IP framework.
As part of the Government's response, we have set out how the
UK+ regime reflects and supports the many different
parts of our modern, IP-rich economy. This exhaustion regime
ensures that our world-leading inventors and creators can invest
their time and energy in developing new products and technologies
knowing that our parallel importation laws will help to support
them make a living from their IP assets. In turn, it will support
competition in the marketplace and fair access to IP-protected
goods.
No legislative changes, or adjustment to businesses' operations,
are required as the UK will be maintaining its bespoke exhaustion
regime.
If we are to unlock economic growth, then we must incentivise
innovation and creativity by providing long-term certainty and
stability to all who interact with our world leading IP
framework. The UK+ regime achieves this goal by
providing balanced, well-designed parallel importation laws.
A copy of the Government's response to the 2021 consultation on
the UK's future exhaustion regime has been laid in both Houses.
