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Fairtrade International logo
Fairtrade International
Global · Tier 3 Specialty
AB (Agriculture Biologique) logo
AB (Agriculture Biologique)
France · Tier 2 Trusted
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'Natural' (NOT a certification)
Worldwide · Tier 4 Marketing
What it meansCertifies fair prices and conditions for producers in developing countries — not organic, not environmental. Common on coffee, cocoa, sugar, bananas, tea.France's national organic mark, owned by the Ministry of Agriculture. Sits alongside the EU Leaf on virtually all French organic packaging.The word 'natural' on packaging is a marketing term, not a certification. In most jurisdictions there's no legal definition, no standard, and no inspection. A product labelled 'natural' can contain synthetic ingredients, pesticides, GMOs, and artificial flavours.
ScopeFoodFoodSeveral categories
Established19971985—
InspectionAnnual on-site by FLOCERT (independent of Fairtrade International)Annual on-site by French-accredited certifiersNone
Residue testingNot for organic — Fairtrade alone doesn't test residuesRisk-basedNone
Guarantees
  • Minimum price floors for producer cooperatives.
  • Fairtrade Premium paid into community-development funds.
  • Bans on the worst forms of child and forced labour.
  • Producer organisations must be small-farmer cooperatives or hired-labour plantations meeting standards.
  • EU baseline organic (EU 2018/848).
  • Annual on-site inspection by accredited French certifiers (Ecocert, Bureau Veritas, Qualité-France).
  • Nothing. It is not a certification and there is no body verifying anything.
Does NOT
  • Doesn't mean organic — many Fairtrade products are conventionally grown. A separate Fairtrade-Organic dual certification exists.
  • Same standard as the EU Leaf — AB is the brand consumers recognise, not a stricter rule.
  • Doesn't mean organic. Doesn't mean pesticide-free. Doesn't mean GMO-free. Doesn't mean ethically produced.
  • Some markets (e.g. the US FDA on food, EU on cosmetics) place very limited restrictions on the word, but enforcement is weak.

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