Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Intellectual Property Office’s new guidance for second-hand shoppers in reducing the purchase of counterfeit goods online.

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is committed to raising consumer awareness of IP crime and infringement and the risks surrounding it.

The new guidance for second-hand shoppers has been developed as part of a wider second-hand shopping campaign in partnership with the second-hand industry, embedding expertise from online resale platforms to enable consumers to make informed decisions and avoid counterfeits on those platforms.

The campaign is currently being rolled out, and the effectiveness of the new guidance will be evaluated over the next three months as part of the IPO’s wider work to reduce demand and change attitudes towards counterfeits.