ABSTRACT
Investment and trade in agricultural biotechnology products have been facilitated by a number of international hard law instruments created as part of the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization ([WTO] 1994). The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, which ensures that intellectual property embodied in genetically modified organisms is protected through domestic patent or plant variety protection regimes, has fostered investment in the industry; the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) ensures that domestic safety standards do not represent a barrier to trade in food derived from these organisms.
