A milestone in the Fair Trade movement is set to be unveiled to the world in February 2016. WFTO will present a Fair Trade Label for organisational excellence to the press and public at the Ambiente Trade Show in Frankfurt, Germany, on 13 February 2016. 

Launch Venue: Halle 10 E 2, Inspiration 2, Messe Frankfurt, Frankfurt Germany. Time: 11:30 -12:00 (Central European Time)

From Frankfurt to the rest of the globe, WFTO and its members in more than 70 countries will launch the WFTO Label to the public through the press, social media, websites, and other activities. Everyone is invited to witness a piece of Fair Trade history in the making

About the WFTO Product Label

The WFTO Product Label is a symbol of assurance that products bearing this Fair Trade label are produced and traded by Fair Trade Organisations that complied with the WFTO Fair Trade Standard for organisations.

It is a unique Fair Trade label that represents organisational best practices in applying the 10 Principles of Fair Trade, which are verified and regularly monitored through the WFTO Guarantee System. The Label can be used on any type of product of a Guaranteed member, including handicrafts, food and others.

About the WFTO Guarantee System

The lack of a Fair Trade label for many fairly traded products has prompted WFTO members to come up with a Fair Trade System that would pave a way for a label on products of Fair Trade Organisations. During the 2013 WFTO Annual General Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, WFTO members approved the WFTO Guarantee System (GS). 

A credible Fair Trade label must have a good system backing the claim of the label. WFTO took advantage of the experience of its members, and knowledge of experts in Fair Trade verification in developing and implementing a robust Fair Trade system that would work for all fair trading organisations, especially considering the interests of small artisans and farmers.

The major aspects in the development of the GS were credibility, sustainability and robustness of the system. To achieve these three criteria, the GS has five major components: new membership admission procedure, Self Assessment Report, Monitoring Audit, Peer Visit, and the Fair Trade Accountability Watch (FTAW).

Periodic verification procedures – members follow a monitoring schedule throughout their membership at the WFTO. The self assessment, peer visit and monitoring audit are carried out periodically by members to demonstrate compliance, and identify areas that need improvement. 

Participatory monitoring – The GS is a democratic monitoring process that allows the member and its peers to collaborate in the compliance verification process. This allows members to learn from each other and exchange best Fair Trade practices.

Continuous improvement – each verification procedure allows members to identify strong and weak points. The GS requires the member to prepare an improvement plan to address weak areas, and progress is reported in the next round of verification.

Fair Trade Accountability Watch – this is a participatory monitoring mechanism that allows anyone to report (non)compliance issues of WFTO members, which may lead to further investigation. To report, visit the alert page. 

The various compliance verification procedures, innovative monitoring and continuous improvement schemes make the GS a robust system; when members successfully complete the whole process, they become Guaranteed Fair Trade Organisations and are able to use the WFTO Product Label on their products. They can only maintain the Guaranteed status if they are up-to-date with their monitoring schedule.

For more information, please use the links below:

10 Principles of Fair Trade
WFTO Fair Trade Standard
WFTO Guarantee System
Metamorphosis of Fair Trade
WFTO: 25 Years of Fair Trade
60 Years of Fair Trade