SELECTED ASPECTS OF JUDICIAL PRACTICE AND DOCTRINAL CONCEPTS OF "PARALLEL IMPORT" IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE LAW

Introduction. The development of international economic cooperation has led to an explosive growth in international trade, which, in turn, has led to the circulation of goods from various manufacturers around the world, as well as the need for States to regulate the turnover and import of these goods in order to protect the interests of trade participants. The article is devoted to the analysis of the legal regulation of parallel imports in the context of unilateral restrictive measures (the so-called "economic sanctions"). In addition, it provides a comparative analysis of certain aspects of the legal regulation of the topic under study in the legislation of Russia and the United States, as well as in WTO law and examples from judicial practice. In addition, the issue of the legality of parallel imports is also conditioned by lengthy discussions regarding the choice of the optimal principle of exhaustion of the exclusive trademark right in the territory of the Eurasian Economic Union. Materials and methods. In the course of writing the work, such methods of scientific knowledge as analysis, synthesis, generalization, analogy, and forecasting were used. Foreign and Russian scientific articles, judicial practice of Russia and the USA were used as research materials. Results of the study. The experience of other countries suggests that legalizing the "parallel import" of all goods without exception is not impossible. In these circumstances, an objective assessment of the economic feasibility of legalizing parallel imports in Russia is necessary. At the same time, the definition of the concept of "parallel import" in international legal documents will serve as a normative understanding of its legal nature and will allow it to be distinguished from such a category as "gray import", as well as ensure a uniform approach to understanding its features and, as a result, prevent its merging with other forms of import. The authors emphasize the need to consolidate the concept of "parallel import" at the international legal level in order to prevent its confusion with "gray imports" and ensure uniformity in legal regulation. Discussion and conclusion. The study showed that in modern conditions of fierce competition between states in the global economic system, unilateral restrictive measures (economic sanctions) that have reached the level of exhaustion of exclusive trademark rights under the terminology of "parallel import" require the consolidation of these concepts at the international legal level. The judicial practice of States and the doctrinal research of scientists can play a key role in this.