Labour urged to use Brexit freedoms to scrap EU rules that are hiking prices for Britons .hh
New report calls on UK to axe “outdated” import restrictions.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (Image: Getty)
Labour has been urged to use Brexit freedoms to scrap EU rules that are hiking prices for Britons.
A new report warns consumers are paying too much for products like electronic, cosmetics, books and clothing.
The import regulations prevent the UK from accessing cheaper, branded goods from outside of the bloc.
The paper by the Institute for Economic Affairs free market think tank argues that axing them could cut the cost of popular goods for consumers and save the NHS hundreds of millions of pounds a year.
Co-author and IEA public policy fellow Matthew Lesh said: “Brits have been paying far too much for Levi’s jeans, Chanel No. 5 and iPhones for too long.
“Outdated import restrictions act as an artificial tax, inflating prices and boosting corporate profits at our expense.
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“Now, after Brexit, it makes no sense to welcome imports from the EU while blocking them from elsewhere.
“It’s high time we level the playing field, let competition work for us, and put money back in people’s pockets.”
Parallel import restrictions prevent the import of genuine, branded goods without the consent of the intellectual property rights holder.
Martin Howe, report co-author and leading intellectual property barrister, added: “Trade mark rights are meant to allow brand owners to stop deception or confusion in the market place.
“But an EU rule we still haven’t reformed five years after leaving lets brand owners use these rights to keep their own genuine goods from coming into the UK market from the rest of the world.
“This allows multinationals to overcharge UK consumers compared with elsewhere and we should not allow our intellectual property laws to be used to suppress a freely competitive market.”
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The previous Tory government consulted on the regime in 2021 but did not make a final decision before the general election.
A Government spokesman said: “Parallel importation laws can play an important role for many business sectors, as part of a balanced and stable IP framework.
“Our current exhaustion of IP rights regime enables IP-protected goods to be parallel imported from the European Economic Area.
“We are considering what the UK’s future exhaustion regime should be. And if there is to be a change, how any change should be implemented.”
“We understand that businesses are keen for an update on this matter and an announcement will be made in due course.”
