The former FLO Certification Unit, now FLO-Cert Ltd, has become a limited company. The main reason for the foundation of FLO-Cert as a limited company is to make Fairtrade’s certification and trade auditing operations more transparent. Establishing FLO-Cert enhances the autonomy of its producer certification and trader registration decisions, and facilitates compliance with the ISO Standards for Certification Bodies (ISO 65).


Moreover, with the separation of FLO-Cert, FLO reduces its financial liability, because a limited company's liability is restricted by its capital, whereas the liability of an association is practically unlimited.


The final reason for the foundation of FLO-Cert is to improve FLO’s financial stability by diversifying its sources of income by asking all stakeholders and benefactors of Fairtrade labelling to contribute to its costs. While NIs will continue their substantial contribution to FLO-Cert, it will also partially finance its activities through a certification or registration fee paid by producer organisations and traders.






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