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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his officials in his Department have had with the members of the Government's EU negotiation team on access to the EU Intellectual Property Office for UK practitioners after the transition period.

Officials have been involved in cross government discussions on many post transition period issues.

We are currently in negotiations with the EU as we seek a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. On legal services, our starting point is precedent based. We aim to secure market access commitments for lawyers and minimise barriers to the cross-border supply of services and investment, on the basis of commitments like those in the Canada FTA. We cannot comment on on the status of live negotiations.

However, rights of representation, whether before domestic courts in Member States or EU institutions, such as the EU Intellectual Property Office, are the preserve of the Single Market and so do not form part of the UK approach to negotiations with the EU.