- According to the FLO, the first fair-trade label was created by the Netherlands' Max Havelaar Foundation in 1988 for certified Mexican-grown coffee sold in Dutch supermarkets. Soon, similar labeling programs had appeared in other European nations like Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Sweden, as well as in the United States, Canada and Japan. The FLO was created in Bonn, Germany, to bring together these like-minded labeling initiatives under one umbrella organization.
- Teas labeled with the FAIRTRADE mark (Polska Zielona Sieć: Flickr.com).
In 2002, the FLO launched its FAIRTRADE certification mark, with the word "FAIRTRADE" written in all capitals beneath an adapted blue and yellow yin-yang symbol. According to the FLO, the intent was "to improve the visibility of the mark on supermarket shelves, facilitate cross-border trade and simplify export procedures for both producers and exporters." - In 2004, the FLO created the independent certification company FLO-CERT to inspect and certify producers and traders who comply with the FLO's standards for a FAIRTRADE certification. Today, nearly all of the world's major fair-trade labeling groups use the certification granted by FLO-CERT, except Transfair USA, TransFair Canada and Max Havelaar Switzerland. Transfair USA, for example, issues its own "Fair Trade Certification" mark in the United States for coffee, tea and herbs, cocoa and chocolate, fresh fruit, flowers, sugar, rice and vanilla.
- In order to be certified FAIRTRADE, products and producers must meet certain standards. A minimum price for most goods must be paid to producers in addition to a fair-trade premium, an amount producers must invest in their local communities. Producers must be organized according to a democratic, participative structure, pay good wages, and respect workers' rights to unionize. FAIRTRADE-certified producers cannot use certain materials, such as dangerous herbicides and insecticides. FAIRTRADE certifications are available only to producers in certain enumerated, mostly disadvantaged, countries.
- According to the FLO and Transfair USA, there are currently 746 producer organizations in 58 countries that are certified for fair trade, either by the FLO or other certifying organizations. These organizations include more than 1 million farmers and workers. Counting these farmers' family members, the FLO estimates that 5 million people worldwide benefit directly from fair trade. The FLO reported more than $4 billion in fair-trade certified sales in 2008, and said annual sales had grown nearly 40 percent over the previous five years.
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