Legal Regulation of Relations in Parallel Imports. The Experience of Eurasian Region States

Parallel imports as a tool for the international trade development and better availability of goods in different countries and in some sense an instrument of international competition, give rise to a number of legal issues, the solution of which depends on the stability of trade relations, availability of goods in the markets of different states, compliance with the intellectual rights of copyright holders. The authors analyze legal approaches to parallel import and the problem of exhaustion of rights in the states of the Eurasian region using Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and the EAEU as case studies. It is noted that there is no normative consolidation of the concept of «parallel import» at the level of international level. There are no international legal grounds allowing the right holder to prevent introduction of the international principle of exhaustion of rights in full in a particular State. The standards of significant difference in the implementation of the international principle of exhaustion of rights seem permissible for regulatory consolidation only in cases where significantly different goods are distributed by the rightholder in at least two States and have ever been imported by the rightholder or with his consent for distribution to the State introducing parallel imports. Even in this case, introduction of the standards of significant difference remains at the discretion of the State introducing the international principle of exhaustion of rights.

The regional principle of exhaustion of exclusive rights within the EAEU, can serve as an important mechanism for completing the markets of goods and services in the EAEU member states, filling in the missing goods on the market of the EAEU member states, increasing competition and optimizing prices for goods in the region At the same time, it is necessary to provide for the possibility of using the international principle of exhaustion of exclusive rights, clearly establishing the list of goods (trademarks) subject to its operation.

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