What is the Fairtrade recognised Mark?
The Fairtrade Mark is an independent consumer label which appears on UK products as a guarantee that they have been certified against internationally agreed Fairtrade standards. It shares internationally recognised Fairtrade standards with initiatives in 20 other countries, working together globally with producer networks as Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO). The Mark indicates that the product has been certified to give a better deal to the producers involved, it does not act as an endorsement of an entire companies business practices.
The Fairtrade standards comprise both minimum social, economic and environmental requirements, which producers must meet to be certified, plus progress requirements that encourage continuous improvement to develop farmers' organisations or the situation of estate workers.
The Fairtrade Foundation is a member of Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO) and licenses the Fairtrade Mark in the UK.
What is the difference between fair trade and Fairtrade?
The term Fairtrade is used to describe the certification and labelling system governed by FLO designed to allow consumers to identify goods produced under agreed labour and environmental standards.
The term Fair Trade is used to refer to the Fair Trade movement as a whole and can be used to describe both labelled and unlabelled goods and the work of Alternative Trade Organizations (ATOs), Fair Trade federations and networks such as BAFTS (British Association of Fair Trade Shops) and IFAT (International Fair Trade Association). The term fair trade is a broader term often used to describe one or many of the above, but can also occasionally be used to refer to trade justice issues. In such cases, it can be as broad as to describe general fairness in trade, such as tariffs, subsidies, worker rights and other issues.
The Fairtrade Mark and certification is currently available in some categories but not others, For example it includes cotton and many food & drink categories but excludes handicrafts. Fairtrade Certification and its system of minimum pricing were designed initially for commodity products. It is technically difficult to adapt this model of standardized minimum pricing to crafts and other products made by small-scale artisans, which are each unique, made of varied materials and have highly varied production processes and costs. However, FLO is currently working with the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT) to explore whether we could work towards a certification programme for these products in the future.
Sales of Fairtrade certified products in the UK is doubling in value every 2 years, and in 2007 reached an estimated retail value of £493 million (source: Fairtrade Foundation 2008). The UK is one of the world's leading Fairtrade markets, with more products and more awareness of Fairtrade than anywhere else. Around 20% of roast and ground coffee, and 20% of bananas sold in the UK are now Fairtrade.
Gone are the days when people had to trek kilometres to an off-the-beaten-track shop to only find fair trade coffee . Nowadays one only needs to visit the High Street or visit an online store to find many different products available!