IP And Investment Protections In The India-UK FTA

The India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), in force since 15 July 2026, is often described in terms of tariffs and market access. But for businesses with valuable brands, patents, or cross-border investment plans, two other chapters matter just as much: intellectual property and investment. The two areas, however, have developed very differently under CETA. IP protection is comprehensive and detailed. Investment protection, by contrast, is conspicuously absent in the form most investors expect.

This article explains what CETA actually delivers on IP, what it does not deliver on investment, and what businesses should do about both.

Chapter 13: India's Most Comprehensive IP Chapter Yet

CETA's intellectual property chapter, Chapter 13, spans over 100 provisions and is widely described as India's most comprehensive IPR chapter in any free trade agreement to date. It covers patents, trademarks, copyright and related rights, geographical indications, industrial designs, trade secrets, and enforcement, and aligns with India's existing obligations under the TRIPS Agreement while going further in several respects, including transparency and institutional cooperation.

National Treatment and Transparency

The chapter obliges both countries to extend national treatment to each other's nationals, meaning UK rights holders in India, and Indian rights holders in the UK, receive protection no less favourable than that given to domestic right holders. It also introduces binding transparency commitments requiring the online publication of laws, regulations, procedures, and registers relating to trademarks, patents, designs, and geographical indications. For businesses managing IP portfolios across both jurisdictions, this should make it easier to track registration status, oppositions, and enforcement actions without relying solely on local counsel for basic information.

Geographical Indications: A Standout Feature

One of the chapter's most notable features is its dedicated, sui generis system of protection for geographical indications (GIs), covering wines, spirits, agricultural products, and foodstuffs. This has direct commercial relevance for a wide range of Indian producers, from Darjeeling tea to Basmati rice to regional handicrafts, whose GI status can now be more robustly protected and enforced in the UK market. The agreement requires each country to maintain a formal GI protection system, including public registers and examination processes, and to provide procedures for mutual recognition, opposition, cancellation, and enforcement through competent authorities.

Digital Enforcement and Domain Names

Recognising the realities of modern commerce, the chapter also addresses domain name disputes. Where a domain name is registered or used in bad faith and is confusingly similar to a registered trademark, remedies such as cancellation, transfer, or damages are made available. This extends brand protection beyond physical markets into the online space, which is increasingly where infringement disputes actually originate.

Public Health Safeguards

Importantly, the chapter reaffirms public health safeguards and does not compromise India's ability to regulate access to medicines. It has been noted that the chapter recognises voluntary licensing on mutually agreed terms as a preferred route to promoting access to medicines, an approach intended to balance IP protection with public interest considerations, particularly around pharmaceuticals. This reflects a deliberate effort to preserve India's regulatory space on public health even while strengthening IP enforcement elsewhere.

Institutional Cooperation

The chapter also establishes a permanent Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights, tasked with overseeing implementation, promoting cooperation, and facilitating ongoing dialogue between the two countries. This working group is likely to become the practical mechanism through which specific IP disputes, ambiguities, or emerging issues, such as AI-related IP questions, get addressed over time, rather than through formal dispute settlement. Full details of the chapter's scope are available in the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry's official synopsis of CETA's key chapters.

Investment: A Notable Gap

Here is where businesses need to recalibrate their expectations. Despite the agreement's scope, CETA does not contain a standalone investment protection chapter or an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism. This means that, unlike a traditional bilateral investment treaty, CETA does not give foreign investors a direct right to bring international arbitration claims against the Indian or UK government for alleged breaches of investment protection standards such as fair and equitable treatment or protection against expropriation.

This is not an oversight. It reflects India's deliberate, longstanding policy position, shaped significantly by adverse outcomes in earlier bilateral investment treaty arbitrations, to limit private ISDS mechanisms and preserve its regulatory sovereignty over sovereign policy decisions. The UK, for its part, reportedly pushed for ISDS inclusion during negotiations, with British businesses seeking reassurance of fair treatment under the Indian legal system, but the two sides have not concluded such a mechanism as part of CETA.

What This Means in Practice

For investors, this gap matters in a specific way. It means that:

• Enhanced investor protection between India and the UK remains an unfinished item, not a secured outcome under the current agreement.
• A separate, dedicated bilateral investment treaty, potentially modelled on India's 2015 Model Bilateral Investment Treaty, would be needed to establish precise investor protections and tailored dispute resolution mechanisms.
• Businesses investing in either country currently rely on domestic legal remedies and general contract law protections, rather than a treaty-based international arbitration route, for investment-related disputes.

A UK Parliament committee reviewing the agreement noted this gap directly, observing that the absence of a concluded investment chapter means enhanced investor protection remains an ambition rather than a secured outcome, leaving a future bilateral investment treaty as unfinished business. The committee's full analysis is available in its detailed report on the CETA agreement.

General Dispute Settlement Still Applies

It is worth noting that CETA does include a general state-to-state dispute settlement chapter, along with binding dispute resolution mechanisms for breaches of core labour rights, environmental obligations, and CETA provisions more broadly, with consequences for repeated non-compliance. This strengthens the enforceability of the agreement's commitments at the government-to-government level. However, this is distinct from, and does not substitute for, investor-state dispute settlement, which remains unavailable to individual businesses under CETA itself. Businesses seeking to understand how these mechanisms affect their cross-border interests can benefit from specialist guidance. Himanshu Deora at King Stubb & Kasiva advises on dispute resolution and investment structuring matters of this kind.

What Businesses Should Do

1. Treat CETA's IP chapter as an opportunity for proactive registration. Businesses with valuable brands, patents, or GI-eligible products should review their registration status in both jurisdictions and take advantage of the improved transparency and enforcement framework, rather than assuming protection is automatic.
   
   
2. Monitor the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights. As implementation issues arise, this body is likely to shape practical guidance, particularly on newer questions such as digital enforcement and AI-related IP matters.
   
   
3. Do not assume investment treaty-style protection exists under CETA. Investors planning significant capital deployment in India or the UK should not rely on CETA for investor-state dispute rights. Structuring investments with strong contractual protections and appropriate domestic legal safeguards remains essential.
   
   
4. Track progress on a separate India-UK investment treaty. Given that both governments have signalled interest in a dedicated investment agreement, businesses with long-term investment plans should monitor these negotiations closely, since a future treaty could materially change the risk calculus for cross-border investment.
   
   
5. Use the general dispute settlement chapter where relevant. While it does not provide investor-state recourse, the state-to-state mechanism can still be relevant where a government-level breach of CETA's broader commitments affects a sector or class of businesses collectively.
   
   

Conclusion

CETA delivers a genuinely strong, modern framework for intellectual property protection, one that Indian and UK businesses should actively use to strengthen and enforce their IP portfolios across both markets. On investment, however, the agreement is deliberately incomplete, reflecting India's cautious stance on ISDS rather than an oversight. Businesses should treat these as two very different risk profiles: confidently build IP strategy around Chapter 13's protections, while approaching cross-border investment with the understanding that treaty-based investor protection is not yet part of the India-UK framework. Further background on the broader trade architecture is available via India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry press briefing on CETA.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Does CETA strengthen protection for Indian geographical indications in the UK? Yes. The agreement establishes a dedicated, sui generis system for protecting geographical indications covering wines, spirits, agricultural products, and foodstuffs, along with mutual recognition and enforcement procedures.
2. Can a UK investor sue the Indian government under CETA if their investment is harmed? No. CETA does not include an investor-state dispute settlement mechanism, so individual investors cannot bring international arbitration claims against either government under this agreement.
3. Why did India exclude ISDS from the CETA investment framework? India has taken a deliberate policy position to limit private investor-state arbitration, largely shaped by outcomes in earlier bilateral investment treaty disputes, in order to preserve regulatory sovereignty over sovereign policy decisions.
4. Is a separate India-UK investment treaty being negotiated? Discussions around a dedicated bilateral investment treaty have been reported as a distinct, ongoing matter separate from CETA, though it had not been concluded at the time CETA entered into force.
5. Does CETA address enforcement of trademark and domain name disputes? Yes. The IP chapter includes provisions addressing domain name disputes, allowing remedies such as cancellation, transfer, or damages where a domain name is registered or used in bad faith and is confusingly similar to a registered trademark.

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The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.