One concern arising from implementation of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is its impact on farming communities. In particular, the meaning of four words in Article 27.3(b) – ‘effective sui generis system’ – for plant variety protection (PVP) has
exercised many people in developing countries since publication of our earlier report on Trade, Intellectual Property, Food and Biodiversity* in February 1999. In response to concerns expressed by developing country missions to the WTO in Geneva, we have commissioned this discussion paper to examine this issue.