The UK Government has now approved draft regulations, The Designs and International Trade Marks (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, which set out what will happen to European Union Design rights on "exit day". A link to the text can be found here.

We have already reported the position in relation to Trade Marks and Brexit, a link to which can be found here.

The draft Regulations will come into effect on exit day, currently set to be 29 March 2019 in the event of a 'hard' or 'no deal' Brexit. However, the effect of the Withdrawal Agreement, if it is ultimately ratified by the UK and EU Parliaments, will be to delay the date the new Regulations come into force until 1 January 2021. Another possibility is that the negotiation period provided by Article 50 will be extended, pushing back exit day to some future date. Whatever date the new Regulations come into force, the provisions of the Regulations themselves are unlikely to change.

The main points to note in relation to Designs can be found in our briefing.