Life Patenting Proposals in the Draft FTAA Chapter on Intellectual Property Rights

The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy critiques the draft IPR chapter of the FTAA, noting that it fails to prohibit patents on life and includes proposals that tighten TRIPs standards. The statement highlights the removal of language regarding technology transfer and transparency, and notes the US push for UPOV implementation for plant patents.

• The draft text for the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) chapter of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) released on August 14 remains largely unresolved, with most sections containing square brackets to indicate disagreement among participating governments.
• While the FTAA IPR proposals use the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) as a baseline, none of the current proposals explicitly prohibit patents on life, despite requests from civil society and the African Group of WTO members.
• The FTAA negotiating table includes several variations to TRIPs terms, including options to limit patents on living creatures by arguing they are not "inventions," and a proposal from the United States to require the implementation of UPOV as an "effective sui generis system" for plant IPRs.
• The draft text includes provisions regarding the Convention on Biological Diversity and the requirement for prior informed consent and equitable benefit distribution for resources or knowledge provided by local, African-American, and Indigenous communities.
• Recent changes to the "General Provisions and Basic Principles" of the IPR Chapter are viewed as increasing protection standards at the expense of development concerns. Specifically, a requirement for transparency regarding the public availability of IPR laws in national languages has been removed, and language promoting the transfer and dissemination of technology for social and economic welfare has disappeared.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (n.d.). Life Patenting Proposals in the Draft FTAA Chapter on Intellectual Property Rights. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IPR_Jan04Statement_IATP.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. Life Patenting Proposals in the Draft FTAA Chapter on Intellectual Property Rights. n.d. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IPR_Jan04Statement_IATP.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=Life Patenting Proposals in the Draft FTAA Chapter on Intellectual Property Rights |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IPR_Jan04Statement_IATP.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centerforinternationalenvironmentallawndlife, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{Life Patenting Proposals in the Draft FTAA Chapter on Intellectual Property Rights}}, publisher = {Center for International Environmental Law}, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IPR_Jan04Statement_IATP.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }