Current Status of the Exhaustion of Rights Regime and Parallel Imports in 2026: What Does It Mean for Trademark Owners

What does the principle (regime) of exhaustion of rights mean?

The principle of exhaustion of rights, as a legal rule, is enshrined in Article 1487 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, according to which the use of someone else's trademark by other persons in relation to goods that have been introduced into civil circulation in the territory of the Russian Federation directly by the right holder of the trademark or with his consent is not a violation of the exclusive right to the trademark.

The essence of this principle is that the right holder cannot prevent the use of the trademark in relation to those goods that have been introduced into civil circulation by him, or with his consent; that is, he cannot exercise his right twice in relation to the same goods supplied to the product market.

In practice, this means that specific copies of goods are subject to a special regime of use, which is called the regime of exhaustion of rights. Thus, the purchaser of specific copies of goods that are introduced into civil circulation by the right holder or with his consent in the relevant territory may in the future freely move them within the territorial boundaries of the exhaustion regime and resell these goods without the consent of the right holder.

At the same time, the trademark itself continues to be protected: its use, including the manufacture or sale of new goods under this mark without the consent of the right holder, is not allowed.

In what territory does the exhaustion of rights regime apply?

According to Article 1487 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, one of the conditions for the exhaustion of rights is the introduction of goods into circulation on the territory of Russia. However, in the Russian Federation, the legal regime of exhaustion of rights is applied taking into account international treaties, in particular,  the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union, which extends the regime of exhaustion of rights to the territory of all member states of the Union.

In practice, this means that those goods with trademarks placed on them, which were introduced into civil circulation on the territory of the Russian Federation or any other state that is a member of the Union, directly by the right holder or with his consent, can continue to be freely in circulation on the territory of all member states of the Union. At the moment, in addition to Russia, the members of the Union are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

For the right holders, this means that if they have introduced or agreed to put into circulation a specific batch of goods in any of the specified states, then in the future the goods from this batch can be freely moved and sold on the territory of all member states of the Union without the consent of the right holder.

What does parallel imports mean?

As noted above, as a general rule, the conditions for the emergence of the exhaustion of rights regime are the introduction of goods into civil circulation in Russia by the right holder himself or with his consent. However, there is an exception to this rule – parallel import, which is the legalized import into the territory of Russia without the consent of the right holders of original imported goods introduced into civil circulation abroad.

In 2026, the parallel import regime applies to goods (groups of goods) that are included in the list approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia based on the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 29.03.2022 No 506 (hereinafter referred to as the List). Such goods can be imported into Russia without the consent of the right holder, provided that they are put into circulation outside the territory of Russia by the right holders, as well as with their consent.

Accordingly, for right holders, this means that they cannot prohibit the import into Russia and resale of original goods from the List, if this product was legally put into circulation abroad.

Guidelines for trademark owners

In the context of the exhaustion of rights and parallel import regime, experts recommend the following to trademark owners:

1. take into account that the absence of the consent of the right holder is not a sufficient sign that allows recognizing the goods as counterfeit and bringing the seller to justice for the illegal use of the trademark. For example, the fact that the seller does not have the status of an official dealer does not mean that he sells counterfeit goods;
2. keep records and store information not only about issued licenses and territories of sale, but also about batches (serial numbers) of goods. In the event of a dispute, this will help to compare "suspicious" copies of goods with those that are legally put into circulation;
3. monitor the relevance of the List, since the groups of goods and brands specified in it are regularly updated. If a group of goods (brand) is excluded from the List, promptly notify the customs and include the trademark in the Customs Register of Intellectual Property Objects (TROIS). This will help the right holder protect himself from the illegal import of counterfeit products and "gray imports" into Russia.