The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) recently published a 39-page study entitled “Synthetic biology and its potential implications for BioTrade and access and benefit-sharing”. Synthetic biology was identified as an emerging issue meriting further research at the first meeting of the UNCTAD BioTrade Initiative Stakeholder Steering Committee meeting on 17 May 2018. This study was developed based on this request in order to provide guidance and further comprehension of the topic, especially its implications for BioTrade (which refers to activities of collection, production, transformation and commercialization of goods and services derived from native biodiversity under the criteria of environmental, social and economic sustainability). See https://unctad.org/en/pages/PublicationWebflyer.aspx?publicationid=2554 or contact [email protected] for more information.