The declaration is released by the Doha Development Agenda, which is a trade-negotiation round of the World Trade Organization (WTO), with the purpose of increasing global trade.
The declaration attempts to work around international patent laws by permitting local communities the right to circumvent patent law in order to produce the medicines needed by their communities.
However, at the time of writing, the declaration has still not been implemented. Disagreements have stalled the process over the last 20 years, with the U.S. and other large countries over trade agreements on agriculture and medicine patents that would allow the least-"developed" countries to sidestep some of the profit agreements within privatized and patented industries.