Vinculando.org: Revista electrónica latinoamericana en Desarrollo Sustentable

In 1997, the three certification initiatives TransFair, Max Havelaar, and the Fair Trade Foundation, along with Swedish and a Finnish labelling organisations with their own satellite organisations across Europe, America, and Asia, came together to build up an umbrella called Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO-International) in order to standardise the certification process (Waridel, 2002:96). The initiative is based in Bonn, Germany and Utrecht, the Netherlands and its 17 members, known as the national initiatives, currently certify coffee, tea, sugar, honey, bananas, orange juice, mangoes, rice, and chocolate; a process is ongoing to include herbal teas, dry fruits, sun-dried fruits, wine, ornamental plants, sport balls, fresh fruits, and fruit juices.

FLO’s overall objective is through the labelling of a Fair Trade product, is to support deprived producers to achieve sustainable development. The label enables the consumer to recognize a Fair Trade product and hence, enhances producers’ access to international markets, based on fair conditions (FLO-Int web page).