In June 2021, the UK government launched a public consultation on the UK’s future exhaustion of intellectual property (IP) rights regime following Brexit. The consultation ran for 12 weeks and closed on 31 August 2021.
In total, the government received 150 responses to the consultation. After reviewing these, they felt there was insufficient data available to understand the economic impact of any alternative exhaustion regimes. Therefore, they decided to delay making a final decision on the future exhaustion of IP rights regime.
Several years later, that decision has finally been made. In May 2025, the government confirmed that they have chosen to maintain the current UK + exhaustion regime. Their published response can be found here.
As a result, IP rights in goods first placed on the market in the UK or in the European Economic Area (EEA) are considered exhausted in the UK.
A detailed discussion of the government’s original consultation, the UK+ exhaustion regime, and what this means for pharmaceutical trade mark owners in particular can be found in our 2022 special report: Pharma Trade Marks: Exhaustion and Parallel Trade in the UK.
