Free trade agreements pushing UPOV as of 2025

GRAIN has updated its dataset on free trade agreements (FTAs) that push harsh new standards for intellectual property rights over biodiversity, going beyond the international standards set by the World Trade Organisation. The data mainly identifies trade deals that force countries to adopt rules on plant variety protection in line with the Geneva-based Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV).

The UPOV Convention of 1991 makes it possible for seed corporations to claim monopoly rights, for a period of 20-25 years, on new crop varieties that they develop. Farmers are not allowed to freely save and reuse those seeds, thereby disrupting their historic practices, rights and knowledge. This legal regime was designed to promote the expansion of industrial agriculture in European countries. For example, UPOV requires genetic uniformity to suit highly industrialised food chains. Its rules are not at all adapted to peasant farming, agroecological practices or food sovereignty – and, in fact, undermine all of these.

Governments across the global South are increasingly being forced to adopt these laws through trade deals signed outside the WTO, where powerful countries and lobby groups have free reign to negotiate their own terms.

Until recently, it was mainly European countries, the US, Australia and Japan that pushed UPOV standards through their FTAs. But as our new dataset shows, the United Arab Emirates are now doing the same – and getting away with it where they can. They have convinced Cambodia, Malaysia and Mauritius to adhere to strict UPOV rules, but clearly failed in the case of India.

The UAE is a major new player in global trade and investment deal-making, especially in Africa and Asia. A lot of their funding comes attached with proposals to expand massive ports and logistics operations that they run. But the UAE is also a huge investor in overseas farming and food production, from Brazil to Pakistan. The fact that they are now pushing UPOV standards on trading partners clearly makes Abu Dhabi a new threat to food sovereignty worldwide.

GRAIN’s dataset also lists cases where governments of the global South have been required to allow for the patenting of plants and/or to join the Budapest Treaty on the deposit of micro-organisms for the purpose of patent protection. These also go beyond international standards and bypass any public discussion on whose interests are served by these laws.

The 2025 dataset is available here and below. Changes since the last version are highlighted in red.