Fair Trade

“Fair-trade is a strategy for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Its purpose is to create opportunities for producers and workers who have been economically disadvantaged or marginalized by the conventional trading system. If fair access to markets under better trade conditions would help them to overcome barriers to development, they can join Fair-trade. ”

What is FLO?
Fair-trade Labelling Organizations International (FLO) is an umbrella organization that unites 20 Labelling Initiatives in 21 countries and Producer Networks representing Fair-trade Certified Producer Organizations in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

FLO is the leading standard setting and certification organization for labelled Fair-trade. Products carry the Fair-trade Certification Mark as the independent consumer guarantee that producers in the developing world get a better deal. Fair-trade Certified Products have helped build economic independence and empowerment for Fair-trade Certified small farmer organizations and their members, bringing them economic stability and a higher standard of living. Beyond being paid a fair price (Fair-trade Minimum Price) for their produce, the Fair-trade Premium helps producers to build necessary social infrastructure of which the following are only some of the examples:

• Improved access to low or no-interest loans
• Technical assistance for building infrastructure to improve production
• Communications systems, and collectively-owned transport and processing equipment
• Better health care and education
• Technical training and skill diversification for cooperative members and their families

Currently, FLO facilitates the sustainable development and empowerment of disadvantaged producers and workers in 59 countries. Click on Impact to find out more about the benefits of Fair-trade Labelling.

Standards setting and Producer Support
FLO International develops and reviews standards and assists producers in gaining and in maintaining certification and capitalizing on market opportunities. To ensure the transparency of the system, the standards are developed and reviewed by the FLO Standards Committee, in which stakeholders from FLO’s member organizations, producer organizations, traders and external experts participate.

Who does the Certification?
Certification is done by an independent international certification company, FLO-CERT GMBH. FLO-CERT GMBH ensures that producers and traders comply with the Fair-trade Standards and that producer invest the benefits received through For more information on certification, please, visit FLO-CERT Website: www.flo-cert.net