Being Fairtrade certified

If you are a producer, trader, importer, exporter, or manufacturer and want to trade Fairtrade-certified commodities or products, a certification against our standards is needed. 

Independent certifiers audit producers, traders and companies to check compliance with our economic, social and environmental standards, including that producers receive the Fairtrade Minimum Price and Premium.

You can approach your (regional) Fairtrade organisation to receive advice on how to prepare your business before going through the audit process for the certification. Only a positive audit outcome will give you the right to trade Fairtrade-certified products. 

For certification, the independent auditor, FLOCERT, will check your supply chain to ensure compliance with social, economic and ecological requirements set in the Fairtrade Standards. Once you've passed, you'll get the permission to trade by officially becoming certified.

If you are a brand and want to sell your finished products with the FAIRTRADE Mark, you must apply to become a licensee.

Standardised Audit Procedures 

FLOCERT’s highly qualified auditors regularly check certified partners. The following principles ensure the quality and standardisation of these audits:

• Local awareness

Auditors are usually local to the respective party’s country or region. They know the regional conditions, legal frameworks and cultural circumstances inside out and usually speak the local languages. This enables them to adequately assess the situation on site.

• Regular training for auditors

All auditors are required to take part in regular training courses covering topics like interview techniques, the Fairtrade Standards and how to comply with them.

• Customised duration and costs

The time required and the associated costs for audits vary and depend on the size of the cooperative or plantation, the organisational structure and the number of products and commodities to be certified. A full audit of a producer organisation usually takes several days.

• Rectifications in case of non-compliance

After the on-site inspection, the auditor sends their report to FLOCERT. The responsible FLOCERT analyst evaluates this report, checks for any non-compliances with the Fairtrade Standards and demands corrective measures from the audited party. If no critical non-compliances are found, the audited party initially receives a temporary trading permit. Only when all non-compliances have been corrected, FLOCERT can make a positive decision and issue a FAIRTRADE certificate.

• Regular audits

After the initial certification, businesses are audited at least twice more within a three-year certification cycle. In addition to these regular surveillance audits, FLOCERT also carries out unannounced audits.

• Complaint mechanisms

FLOCERT offers workers, trade unions, NGOs, private individuals and certified companies the opportunity to submit observations and complaints about suspected violations of the Fairtrade Standards directly and guarantees anonymity to the complainants. FLOCERT ensures that all complaints submitted are processed and assessed and that an appropriate response is given. Depending on the specific case, this can range from an unannounced audit to an enquiry to the accused company or consideration in the subsequent audit. FLOCERT protects the anonymity of whistleblowers who lodge complaints. At the end of the procedure, complainants are informed whether their grievances have been upheld. Further information about submitting allegations, appeals or complaints can be found on FLOCERT’s website.

There are two kinds of audits, producer and trader

Producer audits

All producer organisations – whether small-scale producer groups, plantations or contract produc-tion set-ups – must go through an initial on-site audit before they can sell Fairtrade certified products.

The size of Fairtrade producer organizations varies greatly, from small cooperatives with a few farmer members, to large plantations with hundreds of workers, to large cooperatives with thou-sands of farmer members. The time the auditor spends in the field depends on the size of the producer organisation (number of farmer mem-bers or workers), its complexity, the number of certified products it wants to sell as Fairtrade, and other factors. 

Following the physical audit, an audit report is sent to FLOCERT for evaluation and approval or to follow up on any non-conformities identified during the audit. The decision to certify is made by FLOCERT, and only after all non-conformities have been corrected. 

Following a successful certification for a producer organization, a three-year certification cycle starts. During this time, up to two confirmation audits normally take place depending on FLOCERT’s assessment of the organisation’s individual situation. This assessment is based on monitoring of routine data, including amounts received and paid (including Fairtrade Premium), as well as the individual organisation’s set-up. 

In addition to the regular audits, FLOCERT conducts unannounced audits at any time if there are indications of additional risk, such as specific allegations, expansion of the organisation’s certification scope, or product- or country-specific risks. 

A renewal audit is conducted during the third year. If the renewal audit is concluded successfully, FLOCERT issues a new certificate and the next three-year certification cycle begins. 

Trader audits

FLOCERT and several national Fairtrade organizations also certify traders and companies against the Fairtrade Trader Standard. Traders and com-panies wishing to sell Fairtrade products often first receive a temporary ‘permission to trade’ after a desktop assessment and prior to their first audit. It is valid for up to nine months until the first formal audit takes place. This enables traders to build up a history in the Fairtrade system that can be audited and enables producers to benefit from new buyers coming on board. 

At the first audit, the auditor checks on-site if all Fairtrade transactions were conducted in line with the corresponding Fairtrade Standards. The certification cycles and auditing patterns for producers described in the above section also apply for traders. 

FLOCERT’s certification service

To learn more about Fairtrade certification, contact the independent certifier, FLOCERT - an ISO-17065 accredited body based in Germany. FLOCERT offers resources and support to guide your company through certification.