Part 2 of 3 in a Series on Parallel Trade

Building on the legal framework explored in Part 1, this second paper introduces a practical framework to help Marketing Authorization Holders (MAHs) assess the likelihood of parallel trade across their product portfolio.

Central to this framework is the Effort vs. Opportunity Matrix — a structured framework that evaluates how much effort a parallel trader must invest to purchase a product in one EU market, repackage it, and sell it in another, weighed against the financial opportunity this presents.

Four key factors drive this assessment: pricing strategy, geographic scope and launch sequence, artwork and packaging and SKU clustering, and supply chain and distribution channel strategies. Together, these factors help companies identify where parallel trade likelihood is concentrated — both at the individual product level and across their broader portfolio.