Published by Celestyna Brozek under Uncategorized

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Today I wanted to clarify what the heck fair trade means. We all trust that its a good thing and consequently try to buy fair trade when we can, but what concretely does it mean?

international fair trade signifier

Cursory  research (read Wikipedia ) reveals that first of all, there is no one universally accepted definition of Fair Trade and no one overarching organization.  Fair Trade labeling organizations usually use the definition developed by FINE, an informal association of four international fair trade networks (Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International, World Fair Trade Organization, Network of European Worldshops and European Fair Trade Association).

USA/Canada Fairtrade signifier

On their website WFTO defines ten standards of fair trade, which are a very good place to begin to get a more concrete picture of what exactly fair trade means. Here is a slightly condensed version:

Standard One: Creating Opportunities for Economically Disadvantaged Producers
Poverty reduction through trade forms a key part of the organization’s aims. The organization supports marginalized small producers, whether these are independent family businesses, or grouped in associations or co-operatives.

Standard Two: Transparency and Accountability

The organization is transparent in its management and commercial relations. The communication channels are good and open at all levels of the supply chain.

Standard Three: Trading Practices

The organization trades with concern for the social, economic and environmental well-being of marginalized small producers and does not maximize profit at their expense.

Standard Four: Payment of a Fair Price
A fair price is one that has been mutually agreed by all through dialogue and participation, which provides fair pay to the producers and can also be sustained by the market.

Standard Five: Child Labour and Forced Labour
The organization adheres to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and national / local law on the employment of children.

Standard Six: Non Discrimination, Gender Equity and Freedom of Association
The organization provides opportunities for women and men to develop their skills and actively promotes applications from women for job vacancies and for leadership positions in the organization. The organization takes into account the special health and safety needs of pregnant women and breast-feeding mothers.

Standard Seven: Working Conditions The organization provides a safe and healthy working environment for employees and / or members. It complies, at a minimum, with national and local laws and ILO conventions on health and safety.

Standard Eight: Capacity Building

The organization develops the skills and capabilities of its own employees or members.

Standard Nine: Promotion of Fair Trade

The organization provides its customers with information about itself, the products it markets, and the producer organizations or members that make or harvest the products. Honest advertising and marketing techniques are always used.

Standard Ten: Environment
Organizations which produce Fair Trade products maximize the use of raw materials from sustainably managed sources in their ranges, buying locally when possible.

WFTO logo

I hope this helps everyone. It was enlightening for me. I thought fair trade was only about treating people fairly and was delighted to read standard ten.

This does lead to more questions however. For instance, Standard 7 says that fair trade organizations comply at minimum with local safety laws. But how do those laws vary from country to country? Are the laws themselves fair? A good jumping off point for now, and we’ll continue to explore deeper in the future! Signing off now, see you Wednesday!