the Fair Trade certified label

There are a number of "Fair Trade certified label" logos out there, granted by a similar number of organizations. Certifying organizations are the trust builders of this whole system, as in many cases it is those labels which differentiate an ordinary product from a Fair Trade one.

It is important to note that some of the labels are to be beared on products, regardless of where they are sold, while others are intended for organizations to show, and may be they don't sell any labeled product! Let's have a look at the most common of them. Depending on where you live, you will find only a subset of them, as granting organizations have only a limited geography to act on.

labels for products

You may see any of these displayed in Fair Trade chocolate, coffee, rice... If so, buy them!

	This is the most common logo in Europe, adopted in 2003 by most countries (spanish version shown); it is granted by the Fair Trade labelling organizations international (aka FLO), based in Germany and who also runs the Fair Trade register. FLO is the umbrella for all the world labeling initiatives; it is owned by them as well as by producer associations. FLO has developed and keeps updated the standards for product certification.
	Fair Trade Certified ™ logo granted by TransFair, an USA based organization which certifies lots of products, mainly food. They have a specialized certification procedure for each of them.
	Catholic Relief Services label; it indicates that a part of the revenue is donated by the selling company to the CRS Fair Trade support efforts.
	Max Havelaar: the pioneer Fair Trade certified label: since 1988. This was their label, only seen in Switzerland; it is one of the national labeling initiatives that form FLO. This label has been replaced in March 2008 by another one, similar to the standard Fairtrade label (the first one in this list) used in many other european countries
	Comercio Justo México issues this label for nine coffee brands produced in that country; a seal born somehow looking for country labelling sovereignty
	Fair Trade Original, from the Netherlands, issues this label for their own range of products

Certifying organizations monitor regularly the compliance of the certification criteria thus ensuring, for example, that producers meet the development goals they have set for themselves when getting the Fair Trade certified label.

labels for organizations

You may see any of these displayed in World Shops, Fair Trade NGO's websites or documents, etc, but never on products.

	The International Fair Trade Association (IFAT), based on the Netherlands, groups more than 150 organizations worldwide. This is a label intended for organizations, not for products, so you will not find it on the shelves. It is the logo for organizations.
	Fair Trade Federation is a USA based association of NGOs who strive to support Fair Trade. Some north american NGOs have turned to it feeling despair with TransFair USA and their loose certification criteria, which they find too "market-oriented".
	The British Association of Fair Trade Shops grants this label to their partners.
	This one is intented for U.S.A. Fairtrade towns to show.
	Argentina has developed its network of World Shops, which display this label

However, bear in mind that there are producers and NGOs who follow Fair Trade criteria (labour rights, fair wage, financing, transparency, women empowerment...) but have neither adhered to any existing label initiative nor developed one on their own. For them, mutual trust is enough.

This is the case of FSC wood furniture sold by Copade (the NGO which I volunteer for fair trade wink ): there is not a set of FLO specific certification rules for furniture and Copade, member of IFAT, has not yet published a Fair Trade certified label of its own.

a final caveat

Apart from these Fair Trade labels, there are some others which do not necessarily meet the healthy criteria of the ones above; they are "bird-friendly" or "shade grown" coffee, Rugmark carpets... They usually focus on some particular aspect of the production process, and can be sponsored by some private company. Of course, one of these certificates can be better than nothing, but be aware that they do not have the deep reach of Fair Trade ones. Some of them have even been created to gain some market share in the responsible shopping arena.

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