Fair-Mark is a multinational company founded in Zimbabwe that supports food and agriculture industries in meeting compliance and responsible sourcing requirements for international markets.
Who we are...
Learn more about standards for production, post harvest, handling and value addition, traceability and environment. Standards serve as a practical manual for good production, and competitive access to global markets.
Standards in the World
The issues surrounding agricultural exports have long been subject to severe debate and often fall out on world forums like the World Trade Organisation (WTO). One of the major causes of these disagreements arises from differences in the obtaining procedures on phytosanitary measures and rules of origin of different trade blocks for example SADC or ACP.
It is in this light that efforts have been set in motion to harmonise global approaches to these issues. These are voluntary standards for the certification of agricultural products around the globe. The standards serve as global reference systems for other existing standards and can also easily and directly be applied by all parties of the primary food sector.
It is in this light that efforts have been set in motion to harmonise global approaches to these issues. These are voluntary standards for the certification of agricultural products around the globe. The standards serve as global reference systems for other existing standards and can also easily and directly be applied by all parties of the primary food sector.
The certifications have been created as a response to the demands of consumers, where retailers and their global suppliers have created and implemented a series of sector-specific farm certification standards. The standards are primarily designed to reassure consumers about how food is produced on the farm by minimising detrimental environmental impacts of farming operations, reducing the use of chemical inputs, and ensuring a responsible approach to worker health and safety as well as animal welfare. The aim is to ensure integrity, transparency, and harmonisation of global agricultural standards.
These standards serve as a practical manual for Good Agricultural Practices anywhere in the world. As an example, Good Agricultural Practices are a single integrated standard with modular applications for different product groups, ranging from plant and livestock production to plant propagation materials and compound feed manufacturing. This new standard version integrates all farm products into a single farm audit.
The origins of Good Agricultural Practices started as an initiative by European retailers in 1997, the Euro-Retailer Produce Working Group (EUREP), where they came up with a Good Agricultural Practices document and procedures as agreed among partners from the entire food chain for Fruit and Vegetables after a wide consultation phase. The Good Agricultural Practices TSC for Fruit and Vegetables evaluated and approved the new versions of the normative documents for fruit and vegetables – the Good Agricultural Practices follow General Regulations for Fruit and Vegetables, Control Points and Compliance Criteria, and the Checklist. These versions were converted from EUREP to GLOBAL so that they encompass the global demands and expectations, and are no longer limited to Europe, but now apply to the Global arena. Feedback from audits has been incorporated to make the new version of the standard more relevant to today’s concerns and advanced production techniques.
For Good Agricultural Practices, private sector bodies sets voluntary standards for the certification of agricultural products around the globe. The standard serves as a global reference system for other existing standards and can also easily and directly be applied by all parties of the primary food sector.
In other words, private voluntary standards operate like a satellite navigation system. It equips members with a reliable tool kit, which allows each partner in the supply chain to position themselves in a global market with respect to consumer requirements.
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Standards in Zimbabwe
The implications of standards vis-à-vis the Zimbabwean horticultural producer are that all exports to the EU and UK, for example would need to be certified. In other words, the farmer or grower of fresh produce intending to export to Europe will have his farming process go through some rigorous testing and inspection by specific accreditation bodies. These tests will cover worker health, safety and welfare, environmental and animal welfare issues. It is only after the inspectors are satisfied that a grower can be certified. The system is a quality management system just like ISO. It is not a once-off certification but rather involves continuous assessments. A number of Zimbabwean growers currently hold the Good Agricultural Practices certificate.
It would be desirable if all farmers and smallholders could acquire Good Agricultural Practices certification. In this regard, it may mean that growers would have to invest more in safety, health, and the environment in their farming operations. The nearest accredited certifying bodies which Zimbabwean producers can use are in South Africa.
Meanwhile, Europe remains a lucrative market for Zimbabwean products regardless of all that has transpired. The country must fully exploit this market. It is important to note that the certification is not only useful when exporting to Europe alone, but it has become a world standard.
Fair-Mark is the only company in Zimbabwe providing the service of training, development and implementation of Good Agricultural Practices and other standards.
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Meet the Expert
Fair-Mark also employs associate experts in various disciplines of food safety and
social responsibility, for compliance with international standards.
About Clarence Mwale
QUALIFICATIONS
A recipient of a few awards and recognition, including the Mahindra Agro-Innovater of the year 2020 in Zimbabwe, Clarence Mwale has over 14 years of working experience in the agricultural industry in Zimbabwe. He has vast knowledge from a number of trainings in international food and agriculture standards, marketing, integrated pest management, auditing and EU/UK regulations. Clarence Mwale has trained a number of farm and pack-house workers, managers and agronomists in Africa with regards to good agricultural practices, Fair-Trade, HACCP, BRC, Tesco’s Nurture’s, BSCI, Sedex and SMETA, Rainforest Alliance and ISO etc.
ATTRIBUTES
He is an excellent manager and a good team player with a fervent quest for success.
EDUCATION & QUALIFICATIONS
Berlin Master of business administration
University of South Africa degree in International Relations and Diplomacy
Institute of Marketing Management degree in Business Administration
British Agrochemicals Standards Inspection Scheme (BASIS)-Nairobi, Kenya
Fertilizer Advisors’ Certification and Training (FACTS)-Nairobi, Kenya
Good Agricultural Practices Public Trainer–Cologne, Germany
Good Agricultural Practices Internal Auditing-Harare, Zimbabwe
Integrated Pest Management for Managers-Harare, Zimbabwe
Regulations and private standards training certificate
Management of Food Safety Risks certificate
Crop Protection certificate
Hygiene and Food Safety Management certificate
Certificate in Traceability
Risk Analysis and Control in Production certificate
Operator Safety and Good Crop Protection Practices certificate
Certificate in Sustainable and Responsible Production
Certificate Organic Fruit and Vegetable Production in ACP countries
Biological Control and Intergated Crop Protection certificate
Certificate in Ethical Production
Techniques in Communication and Training
EXPERIENCE
2008- Pres, Standards and Regulations Consultant, Fair-Mark
He founded the company, Fair-Mark
Key responsibilities include preparing farmers, both commercial and small-scale, and packhouses for accreditation in various international privacy standards. Liaison with the certification bodies (NSF, SGS) and aid organizations. Has been working with various NGOs in a bid to promote capacity-building programs in the country for good agricultural practices (GAP), for purposes of exporting into the E.U. And poverty alleviation. Mr. Mwale has good relations with export agencies in the country and beyond.
He is earmarked to participate in capacity development projects organized by nongovernmental and governmental organizations in the region. He has managed to get accreditation for various standards including food safety, good agricultural practices, social compliance etc. Has also been involved in contracts to train and audit in Private Voluntary Standards around ACP Group of States during this period.
2004- 2008, Manager, Selby Enterprises (PVT) Ltd, Zimbabwe
He comes from a highly reputable past relationship with the biggest export company in
Zimbabwe where he was responsible for training of employees and internal auditing of the company. In charge of company adherence to strict export, packhouse and out-grower standards. Overseeing GAP implementation on over 100 commercial farmers dotted around the country, and over 500 small scale initiatives. Successfully trained and managed accreditation processes of the numerous projects, large and small, over the 5-year-stretch.
Has been a management delegate in many negotiating forums especially for sustenance of the various synergies that existed between the export agents (Selby Enterprises and Migros Syndicate) and various markets at a time when Zimbabwe was reeling under a massive economic and political downturn. Has been an interceding office-bearer between management and the workforce in social welfare discussions and initiatives.
Was responsible for research and implementation of changes in standards. Worked
hand-in-hand with the agronomy and quality control departments to ensure that set standards and regulation (local and market requirements) are adhered to. Have been a management representative on Fair-Trade Joint Bodies for fruit and vegetables and cut flowers.
2002-2003, Managing Farm Produce Retail Shop, Linkfront Farming, Zimbabwe
In charge of managing all personnel, conducting company marketing, public relations, and quality control.
Responsible for assuring adherence to local retail standards.
ASSOCIATE REFERENCES
Colin Colegrave Afruita
Shaun Philp Forrester Estates
Adam Selby Selby Enterprises
Simon Philp Husquarvana
Julias Guni Tanganda
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Our Approach
Our Vision
To continue providing services in capacity development in market requirements, regulations, and standards. To reach out to food producers, handlers, processors and manufacturers, small, medium and large.
Our Creed
We believe in playing our part in the growth of development of the African countries by imparting knowledge and allowing access to international markets.
Working with an experienced team with first-hand knowledge on latest developments, simplifies your audit preparation and understanding of the standards. Let us help you with:
Click on title to get more information.
Good Agricultural Practices
We will work with you to interpret control points in any private or public standards into practical terms for your farm/business and make sure that you do attain full certification. Our cost for full development and implementation of good agricultural practices standards are very flexible to suit your needs.
We also offer the option for daily consultancy rates
And we also have different costs for smallholder farmers in groups and/or cooperatives.
These different costs are accessible to different sizes of farming operations designed to cover development and implementation, travel, and administration, but do not cover certification fees.
Certification fees would be charged by and paid directly to the certification body.
There are a few certification bodies and we work with, we will be able to help you choose the best certification body that suits your business best, in cost and services.
Good agricultural standards are a minimum requirement for Global markets!
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Local Standards
It is essential that all organisations involved in the food production chain accept their share of the tasks and responsibilities to ensure that good practices are implemented and supported. If consumer confidence in fresh produce is to be maintained, such standards of good practice must be adopted, and examples of poor practice must be eliminated from the industry.
Wherever referred to, all producers/ handlers/ manufacturers must demonstrate their compliance with national or international law.
Wherever referred to, all producers/ handlers/ manufacturers must demonstrate their compliance with national or international law.
Farmers should be able to demonstrate their commitment to:
- Maintaining consumer confidence in food quality and safety;
- Minimising detrimental impact on the environment, whilst conserving nature and wildlife;
- Reducing the use of crop protection products;
- Improving the efficiency of natural resource use; and
Ensuring a responsible attitude towards worker health and safety.
We are actively involved in the development of local standards to aid through significant progress to many farmers, farmer groups, farmer organisations, local schemes, and national schemes in developing and implementing best-practice agricultural systems.
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Training
We offer various training services for different certification schemes. We can tailor-make training packages to suit different farming and/or handling operations.
Some of the generic training we offer are:
Good agricultural practices, understanding requirements
Operator safety and good Crop Protection practices
Biological control and integrated crop management
Social compliance and ETI base code requirements
Hygiene and Food safety
Health and Safety
Sustainable and Responsible production
Environmental awareness
Organic production
Traceability
Risk analysis and control in production
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Local Regulations
Here is a Step-by-Step documentation process to help you when exporting Horticulture produce from Zimbabwe.
- Register with AMA which is the national authority that regulates the marketing of Agric products in Zimbabwe.
This is an Annual registration as an Agro-producer or dealer.
AMA is at 8 Leman Rd, Harare (along 2nd Street near UZ turn-off).
Just across the road, you might as well visit Zimtrade for helpful info, trade advice, tips & available market opportunities. - Next step is to apply for an Export permit with MoLAWRR at the Ngungunyana building, 1 Borrowdale Rd.
The permit is valid for a specific product, maximum quantity & time period. - Next, apply for a Phytosanitary certificate issued by Plant Quarantine Services.
The certificate attests that your product(s) meet phyto requirements as specified by the importing country.
You can contact their Mazowe or Harare Airport Office. - Complete the CD1 Form at your Commercial Bank.
This is an exchange control requirement with the RBZ. It specifies the value of the consignment. You have 90 days to ensure you acquit (remit).
You may apply for an extension beyond 90 days in case if the buyer delays payment. - Process your Bill of Entry with ZIMRA at Kurima House. You can engage a clearing agent to assist. The BoE specifies the product, quantity, value, transport, and port of exit. This is the basic process flow, although some markets will specify other documents.
- Secure a market before you produce. You will need need to know your market requirements and the certification schemes or food safety standards required by the buyers, importers, and distributors eg GLOBALG.A.P. and/or SMETA, etc.
- Engage Fair-Mark, licensed consultants in the various certification schemes for food safety and ethical practices standards required by export markets.
- Fair-Mark will assist you in the engagement of accredited certification bodies approved for the certification schemes.
The process may differ for every country!
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Social Compliance
In addition to good agriculture, handling, and good manufacturing standards, one of the social audit processes required as a minimum is called SMETA. SMETA is the acronym for SEDEX Members Ethical Trade Audit.
https://www.sedexglobal.com/smeta-audit/
SEDEX (Supplier Ethical Data Exchange ) is a membership organisation for businesses committed to the continuous improvement of the ethical performance of their production-distribution chains. In practice, SEDEX provides companies with a database enabling them to store and exchange information and audits of an ethical nature.
https://www.sedexglobal.com
SMETA is the equivalent of SIZA in South Africa.
https://www.sedexglobal.com/smeta-audit/
SEDEX (Supplier Ethical Data Exchange ) is a membership organisation for businesses committed to the continuous improvement of the ethical performance of their production-distribution chains. In practice, SEDEX provides companies with a database enabling them to store and exchange information and audits of an ethical nature.
https://www.sedexglobal.com
SMETA is the equivalent of SIZA in South Africa.
SMETA/SIZA audits are a minimum requirement for supplies into international markets eg EU and UK, although some markets prefer GRASP to SMETA, and in some instances both.
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EU and UK regulation
We pride ourselves to keep up to date with EU and UK as well as other international regulations in various areas including Maximum Residue Levels etc
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Farming; Choosing a crop
We have a team of agronomists who can help you with choosing your production crops.
Essentially and hypothetically the choice of crops to grow depends on the listed factors:
- Your financial capacity to fund a cropping program
- The size of the land (which can directly or indirectly affect the size of the cropping program)
- You target market (local/export) – and then export is either UK and EU or EU / Middle east or Far East as well as Africa.
- The choice of product lines or crops to be included in the cropping program (either veg or fruit or soft fruit).
Veg – mainly peas, fine beans, tender stem broccoli, etc. fruits are a long term investment, soft fruits are your blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries. - Growing technique (cultural practices) either direct in soil or hydroponics (growing direct in soil being the cheaper option and easy mainly for all other crops except maybe blueberries to some extent.
- Location of the farm (to determine the climate) and suit crops and varieties to the area
Do you have a market for your crops?
Kuminda may be able to assist with market data as its important to secure an off-taker.
What sort of budget are you looking at? Targeting how many Ha? Location?
When do you intend to start the project?
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Private Standards
Private standards may be called norms as these are based on recommended practice (Good Practice or Best Practice):
These norms are not legally binding and they originate from the private sector and/or civil society, they are referred to as private voluntary standards (PVS). A private entity other than a national or international standardization body (or other organization not authorized by one of the latter).
These norms are not legally binding and they originate from the private sector and/or civil society, they are referred to as private voluntary standards (PVS). A private entity other than a national or international standardization body (or other organization not authorized by one of the latter).
Certifications refer to horizontal devices:
Based on bodies of standards for guaranteeing a level of quality in the operations of a business; validating (by auditing) compliance with standards of practices; certification is a task of quality management (assurance).
Example: ISO 9001, ISO 14001 Certifications, etc.
Labeling:
Labels are an indication that a certification was granted to an organization by a third party.
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Here are some examples of Private Voluntary Standards
Click on logo to get more information.
CUMCS-GAP
Control Union Medical Cannabis Standard GAP (CUMCS-GAP) is globally the leading certification standard for medical cannabis certification. The goal of the standard is to ensure the best quality and consistency in the production of the product.
Clarence Mwale was trained by Control Union to help you understand and prepare for the CUMCS-GAP certification audits.
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Rain Forest Alliance
The “Rainforest Alliance” is an American NGO dedicated to conserving the world’s biodiversity and ensuring decent living conditions by modifying agricultural and business practices and consumer behaviour. The Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) established the standards of the initiative, in compliance with the ISEAL Alliance codes of good practices for establishing social and environmental standards.
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SEDEX
SEDEX (Supplier Ethical Data Exchange ) is a membership organisation for businesses committed to continuous improvement of the ethical performance of their production-distribution chains. SEDEX is a non-profit organisation. It was created in 2001 by a group of British retailers and their main suppliers. These businesses all saw the need to collaborate and harmonise their ethical standards and audits. Hence the goals of SEDEX are:
- To reduce the number of ethical audits that big name suppliers must undergo
- To actually improve the standards relating to working conditions
SEDEX membership is now open to all companies regardless of their geographic location. In practice, SEDEX provides companies with a database enabling them to store and exchange information and audits of an ethical nature. SMETA is the acronym for SEDEX Members Ethical Trade Audit. It consists of three elements: a common guideline for the best auditing practices applicable to ethical trade, a common format for corrective action plans, a common format for audit reports.
The SMETA guidelines and report formats were developed by the group of auditors associated with SEDEX in response to demands by members, who wanted an ethics report format that facilitated exchange as well as greater transparency regarding the qualifications and practices of auditors. SMETA spares businesses the unnecessary effort of having to produce redundant ethical auditing reports.
SMETA is not a new code of conduct, nor is it a regulatory standard for audits. Instead it is a compilation of best practices in terms of ethics auditing techniques. The results of the audits are then used to build the SEDEX database. SEDEX differs from the 3 other ethical initiatives studied thus far. It is neither a standard nor a code of conduct, but a tool for businesses and a set of good auditing practices.
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BRC Global Standards
The British Retail Consortium (BRC ) is an umbrella association for a significant number of distributors in Great Britain. In response to the needs of the industry, the BRC developed the BRC Food Technical Standard in 1998. This standard is intended to be used for evaluating the food processing plants in order to assist the distributors and owners of food brands in their efforts to comply with the new European regulatory framework concerning the health safety of foods.
As mentioned in the first part of this chapter, in keeping with Regulation (EC) 178/2002, distributors and food brands are obligated to respect the principle of due diligence. This means that they must be able to demonstrate that all precautions for preventing noncompliance with health safety have been taken in order not to be held liable under law.
Despite its British origin, this PVS is now used in more than 100 countries throughout the world. The BRC Food Technical Standard is a so-called “B-to-B (business-to-business) PVS, in other words not accompanied by a label on the final product destined for the consumer.
Compliance with this PVS must be verified by a third party accredited as an
official certification body and respecting the BRC rules for auditing. Hence the BRC does Chapter 3 not audit businesses itself, but is the owner of the PVS and manager of the certification process.
The BRC Food Technical Standard is therefore intended for processors of food products, enabling them to attest to their Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and the quality management systems that they have implemented in order to ensure that the products that they sell fulfil the requirements of both their customers and the regulatory framework in effect. This PVS is thus applicable to any plant that processes or packages food products.
The standard has 7 chapters :
1. Involvement of the company management and continuous improvement: in order for a food health safety management system to work, it is essential for the company management to support the implementation and encourage the continuous improvement thereof.
2. The plan for health safety: the basis for a health quality management system is the implementation of the HACCP process, as defined in the Codex Alimentarius.
3. The quality and health quality management system: this section lists criteria for quality and health quality management based on the ISO 9000 standard that must be fulfilled. The criteria relate to the product specifications, the choice of suppliers, traceability, and management of incidents and recalls.
4. The standards for the sites: this part of the standard defines the constraints for the physical packaging and/or processing environment in terms of layouts, maintenance of the building and the machine fleet, cleaning, disease control and waste management. There is also a section that deals specifically with checking for foreign matter.
5. Product control: these are control points relating to the phases of product design and development, management of allergens, and also to product-testing laboratories and test phases.
6. Process control: this section relates to the establishment and maintenance of process controls, weight/volume controls, and calibration of the equipment.
7. Human resources: lastly, this part defines the criteria for training staff about wearing protective clothing and practising personal hygiene.
The costs for certification will depend (as is often the case) on the size of the site and on which systems have already been implemented in the business. It may turn out, for example, that the business must invest in order to upgrade its site, or that it may have to resort to outside expertise for documenting its procedures in preparation for an audit. BRC obviously has no control over these costs, nor over the auditing fees charged by the certification bodies.
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Business Social Compliance Initiative
A non-profit organisation, the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI)51 is legally dependent on the Foreign Trade Association (FTA) and was created in 2003. The BSCI came into being as a result of the desire of a number of European businesses to harmonise and more coherency among their codes of conduct and verification systems.
The BSCI offers member businesses a common management system for improving working conditions along their supply chains world-wide. Like the ETI, the BSCI created a code of conduct for doing this.
In common with standard conventions, standards, and other international declarations on labour law and human, children’s, and women’s rights, the o bjective of the BSCI code of conduct is to enable businesses to become compliant with certain social and environmental standards. By adhering to the BSCI code of conduct, companies undertake to recognise, within their sphere of influence, the social and environmental standards set forth in the code and to take suitable measures in their company policy for ensuring the implementation and observance of these standards.
Furthermore, the suppliers must ensure that the code of conduct is also observed by subcontractors involved in the production processes and final manufacturing phases carried out on behalf of BSCI members. Depending on their options for action and suitable measures to adopt, these suppliers are obligated to adopt the following criteria for a developmental approach:
1. Observance of laws
2. Rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining
3. Ban on discrimination
4. Salaries
5. Work hours
6. Health and safety in the workplace
7. Ban on all abusive forms of child labour
8. Ban on all forms of forced and compulsory labour
9. Problems linked to the environment and safety
The BSCI provides its members with a series of recommendations and auditing tools for implementing this code of conduct. Only SAAS (Social Accountability Accreditation Services) accredited agencies may perform BSCI audits. Like the ETI, the BSCI encourages businesses to do more than what is required by the code of conduct and to comply with what the BSCI considers to be the best practice in the sector, namely the SA 8000 private voluntary standard. Unlike the SA 8000 and the ETI, the BSCI includes an environmental stewardship principle (no. 9) in its code of conduct.
Like the ETI and the SA 8000, however, there is no label on the final product (Bto-B). The BSCI provides businesses with a framework and a harmonised approach for managing their auditing procedures in order to ensure that the results of the audits conducted by different businesses are comparable with each other.
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Food Safety System Certification 22 000
The Food Safety System Certification 22000 is a “B-to-B” PVS for food safety management systems that is based on the food safety management standard ISO 22000: 2005, “Requirements for all organisations involved in the food supply chain” and on the Publicly Available Specification of the British Standards Institution 220: 2008 “Prerequisite Programmes for Food Fafety in Food Manufacturing (BSI PAS 220: 2008).”
The Publicly Available Specification 220 of the British Standards Institution (BSI PAS220) is a document designed as an aid in implementing the ISO 22000 standard. The latter expressly requires the implementation of a prerequisite programme (PRP)17 and provides a list of headings to consider, but without specifically stating what the PRPs should encompass. The PAS 220 lists these PRPs for food and food ingredient manufacturing processes.
The idea is for all sectors to use ISO 22000 as a generic standard for food safety management systems and for the documents specific to each sector to cover each other’s needs.
The Publicly Available Specification 220 of the British Standards Institution (BSI PAS220) is a document designed as an aid in implementing the ISO 22000 standard. The latter expressly requires the implementation of a prerequisite programme (PRP)17 and provides a list of headings to consider, but without specifically stating what the PRPs should encompass. The PAS 220 lists these PRPs for food and food ingredient manufacturing processes.
The idea is for all sectors to use ISO 22000 as a generic standard for food safety management systems and for the documents specific to each sector to cover each other’s needs.
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Field to Fork
“Field to Fork” is a PVS specific to the British retail chain Marks & Spencer. This PVS relates to the production and processing phases of food products and thus effectively covers not only good agricultural and manufacturing/processing practices but also health quality, environmental stewardship, and decent working conditions.
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Ethical Trading Initiative
In 1998, a group of British businesses, NGOs, and trade unions came up with a new approach to protecting workers’ rights across all industrial sectors (from tea to textiles, from horticulture to footballs). The objective back then was to create an alliance of organisations that would work together to define how businesses must implement their labour codes in a manner that is both credible and maximises the positive impacts on all of their workers.
The first businesses to join the Ethical Trading Initiative47 (ETI) were ASDA, Premier Brands, The Body Shop, Littlewoods, and Sainsbury’s. Today, more than 50 businesses 48 are members of the ETI. These multinational corporations buy from 38,000 suppliers and employ more than 8 million workers throughout the world. The initiative is open to all businesses, although it is understood that the smallest among them will presumably encounter some difficulties in dedicating enough resources to fulfil the obligations that affiliation entails.
All affiliated business must, however, adopt the basic labour practices code of the ETI,which is based on ILO conventions.
The ETI Code of Conduct defines 9 basic principles :
- The free choice of employment.
- Respect of the freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.
- Labour conditions must respect health and safety rules.
- The ban on child labour.
- Payment of a minimum wage.
- Reasonable work hours.
- No discriminatory practices.
- Provision of regular employment.
- The ban on resorting to harsh or inhumane treatment.
The principles of the code constitute minimum rather than maximum requirements for businesses. Just because a business adopts this code does not mean that it cannot do more than what is stated in the principles set forth above. Businesses are obviously also expected to obey national laws and any other laws in effect. When the laws and the ETI Code of Conduct cover the same subject, businesses must apply the clause that procures the best protection for the workers.
This code is accompanied by a number of principles of implementation for businesses, namely: a true commitment by the business to ethical trade (production), a genuine integration of ethical trade in corporate culture and practices, building the capacities of their suppliers and other stakeholders, the systematic identification of problems along the supply chain, the adoption of measures for improvement and, lastly, transparency in reporting.
The secretariat of the ETI, jointly with the trade union and civil society members, makes random visits every year to at least 20% of the member businesses. The purpose of these visits is to verify that the business has implemented adequate procedures and management systems for gathering the data needed for annual reporting.
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Fair Trade
The Fair Trade Labelling Organisations International (FLO) comprises two entities, FLO e.v., the umbrella organisation described above that coordinates the Fairtrade label internationally, and FLO-Cert, a private holding of FLO e.v. that conducts audits and authorises producers to use the Fairtrade trademark.
FLO e.v. used various internationally recognised standards and conventions, especially those of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), as a basis for establishing the criteria of its equitable standards. The standards are organised by product and type of production structure around 3 themes: social, economic, and environmental.
The FAIRTRADE trademark is now one of the mostly widely respected social and development labels in the world. The trademark is held and copyrighted by FLO e.v. in the name of its members. Originally, the Fairtrade labelling initiatives created by FLO e.v. had different labels. The international FAIRTRADE certification trademark was created in 2002 and it gradually replaced the different national labels. Two FLO e.v. members still use their own original labels. In Canada and in the United States, the Fair Trade Certified™ labels indicate compliance with the criteria of the FLO e.v. standards.
FLO e.v. used various internationally recognised standards and conventions, especially those of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), as a basis for establishing the criteria of its equitable standards. The standards are organised by product and type of production structure around 3 themes: social, economic, and environmental.
The FAIRTRADE trademark is now one of the mostly widely respected social and development labels in the world. The trademark is held and copyrighted by FLO e.v. in the name of its members. Originally, the Fairtrade labelling initiatives created by FLO e.v. had different labels. The international FAIRTRADE certification trademark was created in 2002 and it gradually replaced the different national labels. Two FLO e.v. members still use their own original labels. In Canada and in the United States, the Fair Trade Certified™ labels indicate compliance with the criteria of the FLO e.v. standards.
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