Voluntary certification may be of interest to smaller firms that have not yet established their own reputations for quality, so that a government certificate could mean something in the market or to those companies who wish to export their seeds. In many developing countries, public research agencies do not make their germplasm and breeders' seed available to private companies. Lack of access to public sector germplasm discourages private sector breeding. In some countries such as Brazil and Argentina, public research agencies sell varieties and other research results. The resulting government monopolies on IARC materials often delay or block farmer access to IARC lines that government scientists do not, for whatever reason, appreciate.
Biological protection is available through hybrids.
For crops where hybrid vigor is economic, breeders put genetic advances into hybrid parent lines, which are crossed to produce commercial seed. Protecting intellectual property rights in hybrids can be achieved by maintaining physical control of parent lines. Unfortunately, some developing countries insist that companies give samples of parent lines for any hybrid seed they want to sell. Companies fear samples may be used in public research or even given to other companies. Legal protection comes with implementation of laws that allow registration of variety ownership.