Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what assessment he has made of the effect of exiting the EU without a deal on UK sellers of pre-owned software under the terms of the EU Directive on the Legal Protection of Computer Programs; and if he will make a statement.

The Government is seeking to provide continuity and certainty as the UK leaves the EU. To this end, we have introduced the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 to ensure that UK law continues to work after the UK leaves the EU, whatever the outcome of negotiations. It does this by transferring EU law into UK law, preserving the effect of existing law where possible and appropriate.

The Directive on the Legal Protection of Computer Programs, including its provisions on the resale of software, has already been implemented into UK law and will therefore be retained in UK law after the UK leaves the EU, subject to any amendments necessary to ensure it functions appropriately once the UK has withdrawn from the EU.