Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to negotiate the continued ability of legal practitioners to represent their clients at the EU Intellectual Property Office after the UK leaves the EU.

The UK’s intellectual property system is consistently rated amongst the best in the world, and I recognise the value that the legal profession brings to the system and the wider economy.

As we turn to the Future Economic Partnership with the EU, we will seek a comprehensive arrangement on trade in services, which will cover a wide range of sectors, including professional and business services and IP.

Important legislation to safeguard trade mark rights post EU exit has recently been passed by Parliament, with similar measures for designs and international rights due to be debated shortly.