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Producers at the heart of the fair trade approach

The objectives of Fair Trade are (source FINE):

• To improve revenues for and the welfare of producers by facilitating their access to the market, supporting producer organisations, guaranteeing them a better price […].
• To promote the development of disadvantaged producers, particularly women and people living in poverty, and to protect children [...].
• To increase consumer vigilance on the negative effects on producers of international trade, so that they use their purchasing power in a positive manner.
• To create model business relationships through dialogue, transparency and respect.
• To lead campaigns for change in the rules and practices of conventional international trade.
• To defend Human Rights […]”.

Why have your production inspected and certified by ECOCERT EFT Fair Trade?

• To give your clients proof that your products and production methods conform to the principles of fair trade
• To increase consumer confidence

With EFT, ECOCERT is responding to the requests of operators who want to have their social, economic and environmental commitment recognised. Among the criteria set out in the EFT standards, particular attention is paid to:

• the minimum price paid to the producer;
• the income paid to farmers and their living conditions (thanks to the partnership fund)
• the support provided to producers on a social, technical and commercial level
• moderation in profit margins at each link in the commodity chain.

The role of the support operator (project holder

The setting up of the “fair trade” approach in accordance with the EFT standards requires the existence of a “support” operator who provides assistance to producers. This can be a purchaser or the production organisation itself.

• He is jointly responsible for the partnership fund, for providing technical and commercial support to producers, and for monitoring activities in the production country. The support will either be provided by the support operator himself, or will be delegated to another person.

• He acts as guarantor for at least the operators situated between him and the production organisation. Therefore, if the support operator is not the closest person to the production organisation, he, moreover, becomes the guarantor for the operators situated upstream.

Commitment, costs and deadlines

On request, ECOCERT will send out a set of documents clearly outlining the principles of the approach and its operational implementation. Subject to fulfilling the eligibility conditions, the first stage of your commitment consists of submitting:

• a questionnaire that establishes your quote (document to be downloaded) filled in with as much detail as possible to describe your situation;
• a description of the commodity chain project in its current state.

The costs will be broken down into inspection costs and certification costs, and will be proportional to:

• the time spent by the inspector at the site;
• the geographical dispersion of the sites to be inspected
• the number of sites; and
• the number of products to be certified.

A joint inspection (organic agriculture according to whether the regulation is European, America, Japanese or other + EFT) will optimise both costs and the time spent by the inspector.

(also see summary diagram of the certification stages)