Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4
suppliers and products
Section 5
Section 6
SECTION 6: COMPLIANCE ASSESSMENT
In this section you assess yourself against the Compliance Criteria of the WFTO Fair Trade Standard. For more information see the Application Guide & the WFTO Fair Trade Standard.
Principle 1 Opportunities for Economically Marginalised Producers
Decreasing economic inequality through trade forms a key part of the organisation’s aims. The organisation supports economically marginalised Producers and Workers, whether they are grouped in associations, co-operatives or companies, employed in Fair Trade committed family businesses, or informal/self-employed Workers or Homeworkers. It seeks to enable them to move from income insecurity and poverty to social and economic empowerment. The organisation has a plan of action to carry this out.
Compliance Criteria 1.1 (Mandatory)
Mission: Your constitution, bylaws, articles of association or other legal documents confirm that decreasing economic inequality through trade, the commitment to improve the socio-economic conditions of economically marginalised Producers and Workers, and/or trade justice are your organisation’s priority. Where legal or other legitimate barriers prevent this, the primacy of the social mission must be demonstrated through other supporting evidence.
Compliance Criteria 1.2 (Mandatory)
Senior management responsibility: Fair Trade is recognised at the highest level as an organisational objective and the implementation of the WFTO Fair Trade Standard is assigned to senior management. All management staff understand the Fair Trade Principles.
Compliance Criteria 1.3 (Mandatory)
Focus on economically marginalised Producers/Workers: You work and trade primarily with Workers, Producers and Suppliers of FT Products who are socially and/or economically marginalised, or who are buying from such groups, or otherwise demonstrate positive impact on economically marginalised groups as a central part of your business.
Compliance Criteria 1.4 (Mandatory)
Reinvesting profits: As a Fair Trade committed organisation, you re-invest the majority of your profits in your FT business and expansion of your Fair Trade activities and pay management at proportionate levels.
Principle 2 Transparency and Accountability
The organisation is transparent in its management and commercial relations. It is accountable to all its stakeholders and respects the sensitivity and confidentiality of commercial information. The organisation finds appropriate, participatory ways to involve Workers, Producers and members in its decision-making processes. It ensures that relevant information is provided to all its trading partners. The communication channels are good and open at all levels of the supply chain.
Compliance Criteria 2.1 (Mandatory)
Organisation and governance: You have a defined and functional organisational and governance structure, and a credible accounting system.
Compliance Criteria 2.2 (Mandatory)
Transparency: You provide transparent and well-founded information on your Fair Trade activities, including supply chains or membership requirements, to your trading partners and the public (as appropriate).
Principle 3 Fair Trade Practices
The Enterprise trades with concern for the social, economic and environmental well-being of Producers and Workers, does not maximise profit at their expense and does not cause negative impact on the environment.
Compliance Criteria 3.1 (Mandatory)
Trade Agreements: You have written agreements with your Producers and/or Suppliers of FT products, with relevant and appropriate details. E.g. product specification, delivery and lead times, pre-finance, price and payment terms, cancellation, and problem resolution.
Compliance Criteria 3.2 (Mandatory)
Respecting agreements: You respect your trade agreements and deliver products (or services) on time and to the desired quality and specification. In case of problems, you communicate in a timely manner with your trade partners and work to improve your performance.
Compliance Criteria 3.3 (Mandatory)
Payment: When buying FT products, you pay on receipt of the products/documents or within an agreed short period to allow for quality checks.
Compliance Criteria 3.5 (Mandatory)
Use of Pre-payments: If you receive prepayment from your FT buyers, you use it as agreed with the buyer.
Compliance Criteria 3.7 (Mandatory)
Long-term Relations: You maintain long-term relationships with your FT buyers, Producers and/or Suppliers of FT Products, aiming to maintain and, if possible, increase trade levels to benefit producers. You do not terminate trading relations or stop buying without appropriate notice and reason.
Compliance Criteria 3.8 (Mandatory)
Unfair competition: You do not engage in unfair competition with other FTOs (or FTNs, FTSOs) and respect intellectual property and associated rights regarding protected names/brands, designs, including logos, labels and culturally based designs or names. Unfair competition is defined as any deliberate action to harm competitors, e.g. making defamatory remarks about other FTOs to their buyers to persuade them to change to you as their supplier; deliberate short term / unsustainable dumping pricing practices to force competitors out of business.
Principle 4 Fair Payment
Please feel free to read more about our Fair Payment Tools on our website.
Principle 5 No Child Labour, No Forced Labour
The organisation adheres to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and national/local law on the employment of children. Organisations who buy Fair Trade products from Producers/Producer groups or Fair Trade companies ensure that the Producers comply with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and national/local law on the employment of children. Any involvement of children in the production of Fair Trade products (including learning a traditional art or craft) is always disclosed and monitored and does not adversely affect the children’s well-being, security, educational requirements and need for play.
Compliance Criteria 5.1 (Mandatory)
No children employed: You do not employ children below the age of 15 or under the age defined by local law (whichever is higher) as Workers. For specified cases where child work is allowed by national law (e.g. work experience during school holidays) you must monitor the health, safety, welfare, education and right to play of working children according to the relevant UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Compliance Criteria 5.2 (Mandatory)
Protection of young workers: If you employ young Workers (15- 17 years) you ensure that their working conditions conform to applicable national regulations. You must not submit Workers of less than 18 years of age to any work which is likely to jeopardise their health, safety, morals or their school attendance.
Compliance Criteria 5.4 (Mandatory)
No forced Labour and human trafficking: You and your Producers do not restrict Workers’ freedom of movement or employment and are not involved in human trafficking.
Principle 6 No Discrimination, Gender Equity, Freedom of Association
The organisation does not discriminate in hiring, remuneration, access to training, promotion, termination or retirement based on race, caste, national origin, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, union membership, political affiliation, HIV/Aids status or age. Where women are employed within the organisation, even where it is an informal employment situation, they receive equal pay for equal work. The organisation recognises women’s full employment rights and is committed to ensuring that women receive their full statutory employment benefits. The organisation takes into account the special health and safety needs of pregnant women and breast-feeding mothers.
Compliance Criteria 6.1 (Mandatory)
No discrimination: In your employment practices you do not practice any discrimination in hiring, remuneration, access to training, promotion, disciplinary practices, termination, or retirement based on race, caste, national origin, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, union membership, political affiliation, HIV/Aids status or age, unless it is part of your mission to favour particular disadvantaged groups.
Compliance Criteria 6.2 (Mandatory)
Fair Selection of Producers/Suppliers: In selection of FT Producers and/or Suppliers of FT Products you do not practice any discrimination. Preferential selection of disadvantaged groups (in line with your mission) is not considered “discrimination”.
Compliance Criteria 6.4 (Mandatory)
Violence/sexual harassment in your organisation: You have a system to enable confidential reporting of violence, harassment or sexual abuse and you follow up and resolve any such incidents.
Compliance Criteria 6.5 (Mandatory)
Pregnant Women and new parents: You respect all legal requirements for pregnant women and new parents.
Compliance Criteria 6.6 (Mandatory)
Freedom of Association: You respect the right of all your Workers to form and join Workers’ organisations of their choice and to bargain collectively. Where the right to join trade unions and bargain collectively is restricted by law and/or political environment, you should support alternative means of independent and free association and bargaining.
Principle 7 Good Working Conditions
The organisation provides a safe and healthy working environment for Workers and Producers. It complies, at a minimum, with national and local laws and ILO conventions on health and safety.
Compliance Criteria 7.7 (Mandatory)
Minimum Social security: You provide your Workers with all legally required social benefits (e.g. retirement contributions, sick leave, basic social security, health care contributions, as applicable).
Compliance Criteria 7.7 (Mandatory)
Paying Workers: You make payments to Workers at scheduled intervals in a form convenient to them, according to legal requirements, and documented on payslips.
Principle 8 Capacity Building
The organisation seeks to increase positive impact on people and the planet. The organisation supports the development of skills and capabilities of its workers and producers, as appropriate.
Principle 9 Promote Fair Trade
The organisation raises awareness of the aims of Fair Trade and of the need for greater justice in world trade through Fair Trade. This includes, but is not limited to, advocating for SDGs, promoting alternative business models and system change, and creating awareness of ongoing climate change and the impact this has on the Fair Trade community everywhere and especially on growers, producers and artisans who produce the lowest carbon emissions but suffer most from floods, droughts, changing rainfall patterns and rising temperature.
Compliance Criteria 9.1 (Mandatory)
Promoting FT: You promote and/or raise awareness of FT and FT Principles internally (with your Workers and Producers) as well as to your trade partners and the public (consumers, local community) according to the scope of your organisation.
Compliance Criteria 9.3 (Mandatory for FTEs)
Living up to your claims: You use honest and ethical advertising and marketing techniques.
Principle 10 Climate Action and Protecting Our Planet
Climate action, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and protection of the environment.
Compliance Criteria 10.1 (Mandatory)
Policy and Reporting: Your organisation works to understand the impact of your operations on the environment. Specifically, you have:
Compliance Criteria 10.2 (Mandatory for Agricultural producers)
Adapting agricultural practices: if you are an agricultural producer or work with agricultural producers, you encourage:
Data Confidentiality
WFTO will treat all information in this Application Form as strictly confidential. Once you are a Candidate, only the members name & contact details will be published on the WFTO website, as well as the members’ Fair Trade product categories.
However, WFTO reserves the right to produce statistics about its member base, based on the data included in this application. Such data will always be aggregated for members and presented in a way that does not allow tracing information back to an individual member.
By submitting this Application Form the organisation confirms the following:
All information about the organisation is correct and to the best of your knowledge
You agree to the all elements of the WFTO Application Procedure, including the above information being shared with WFTO Auditors that have signed a confidentiality agreement with WFTO.
You agree that WFTO may use the data in this Application Form for Fair Trade related statistics and studies about its members. Such data will always be published on an aggregated level for all members only, and never contain any information about individual members.
Confirmation
If you do not agree to the terms and conditions indicated above, you will not be able to submit your application. Acceptance of these terms is required for us to process your information. Please review and accept the terms to proceed with your submission.
