Brand attention
With the impact of Brexit on trademark law, EU trademarks will no longer be valid in the UK. Brand owners should have separate trademarks in the UK and EU IP offices to be protected in the Amazon Brand Registry throughout the UK and the EU.
Since the UK IPO is creating comparable UK trademarks for all right holders with existing valid EU trademarks, Amazon Brand Registry will automatically add these new UK trademarks to the accounts of corresponding trademark owners who already have EU trademarks. This will ensure that brand owners continue to enjoy the protection and brand building benefits of Amazon Brand Registry without any Brexit impact.
(1) Current EU trademark
If you own an EU trademark but have not yet registered it in the Brand Registry, you need to register it before December 31, 2020 so that Amazon can automatically add a comparable UK trademark.
(2) Trademarks from January 1, 2021
If you add a new EU trademark after December 31, 2020, you need to add a comparable UK trademark yourself.
(3) Opt-out
If you do not want the new British trademark to be automatically added to your Amazon Brand Registry account, you can opt-out by sending an email to [email protected].
(4) Other trademarks that have not been added to the Amazon Brand Registry
Amazon will only automatically add the UK trademarks corresponding to the existing EU trademarks in the UK IPO on December 31, 2020 to the Amazon Brand Registry . Brand owners can directly add any other trademarks to their Amazon brand registration account in the following ways, including any existing UK trademarks:
①Log in to your account: https://brandregistry.amazon.co.uk
②Click "support" on the brand registration information center.
③Select the "Update your brand information" drop-down menu.
④ Click "Add another trademark".
⑤Fill in the provided form.
For more detailed information on UKIPO's changes to the intellectual property rules, please visit the UK government website.
For information on how to prepare Amazon for Brexit, please visit the Seller Central Brexit Help Page.
Key date
As the end of the year approaches, the important Amazon FBA Brexit date has begun to affect sellers' business as early as mid-November. Amazon has announced that from January 1, 2021, the UK will separate from the EU's FBA.
Although the "Transition Agreement" between the UK and the EU expires on December 31, Amazon cannot simply switch operations on January 1. To ensure that sales partners using FBA have enough time to manage their inventory levels in the UK and the EU, December will be a busy period.
(1) November 14 (Saturday): Inventory clearance orders for cross-border inventory will stop
From November 14th, inventory counting from the UK fulfillment center to the EU address and from the EU fulfillment center to the UK address will be stopped. All clearance orders created before this date will continue to be processed until December 31, 2020. Local removal requests will continue to be accepted as usual (i.e. in the UK or EU region).
(2) December 18 (Friday): Pan-European FBA stock transfers will be suspended between the UK and the EU
Starting from this date, sellers will need to send inventory to fulfillment centers in the UK and the EU to maintain inventory levels (for information on how to do this, please refer to the Amazon Brexit help page). The pan-European FBA stocks that have been placed in the EU before December 18 (Friday) will continue to be used to fulfill EU orders, while the pan-European FBA stocks in the UK will continue to meet UK orders. The pan-European FBA inventory transfer will continue as usual in the EU region.
December 18 (Friday): Deadline for cross-border transshipment
Please ship before December 18, because this is the last date for Amazon to accept shipping requests before January 1, 2021!
Starting from that date, the Amazon Partnered Carrier program will be used to provide an updated workflow for transportation between the UK and the EU. When transporting goods across the border between Britain and Europe, the seller will be required to comply with customs regulations. For more detailed information about the "Brexit Amazon Cooperative Carrier" program, see Prepare your Amazon business-Brexit.
After booking the goods, you will need to take new steps to clear customs. If the border has not been crossed before this date, this may affect shipments before January 1, 2021. Amazon's cross-border shipping workflow FAQ can help you with any query.
December 18 is the deadline for cross-border transshipment. The British government has suggested that due to potential border disruptions, deliveries between the UK and continental Europe may be delayed. Amazon recommends shipping UK imports and exports by Friday, December 18, 2020 to ensure that they cross the UK border before they need to clear customs. Starting from that date, Amazon will stop cross-border transshipment.
Amazon recently launched a pre-customs border transportation promotion. This promotion will continue until December 18, 2020. For sellers using the "Partner Carrier Program", the cost of transportation between the UK and the EU has been reduced by about 30% to 64% on average.
(4) December 21 (Monday): Cross-border delivery through EFN and pan-European FBA will end
In order to give Amazon logistics time to complete any final orders, cross-border fulfillment through EFN and pan-European FBA will have to end before the end of the year. In the week starting on December 21st, sellers will see a sharp slowdown in cross-border sales and will stop production all day on Monday, December 28th. In order to maintain sales in Europe, sellers need to send products to fulfillment centers in the UK and the EU. More detailed information can be found on the Amazon Brexit help page.
To prepare for the transportation of goods across the UK-EU border, please check the "Brexit Preparation" section of the Amazon help page. Sellers should also consider contacting customs brokers to learn how they can provide you with customs clearance support after Brexit. First of all, Amazon's service provider network includes many referral brokers and shippers who can be directly contacted, and they will work with you to ensure that your products are successfully cleared.
END.
◎Source: Tamebay Chris Dawson
◎Editor: Ding Ning
◎Review: Wan Qinglai
◎Final review: Chen Xia