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Fairtrade International logo
Fairtrade International
Global · Tier 3 Specialty
Fair for Life logo
Fair for Life
Global · Tier 2 Trusted
Bio Suisse 'Knospe' (Bud) logo
Bio Suisse 'Knospe' (Bud)
Switzerland · Tier 2 Trusted
What it meansCertifies fair prices and conditions for producers in developing countries — not organic, not environmental. Common on coffee, cocoa, sugar, bananas, tea.Combined organic + fair-trade + social-responsibility certification. Issued by Ecocert (originally developed by IMOswiss). Stricter than baseline Fairtrade on labour conditions; often paired with an organic mark on the same product.The Swiss organic farmers' federation mark. The Knospe (Bud) is the dominant organic mark in Swiss supermarkets and operates to standards stricter than the Swiss federal organic ordinance.
ScopeFoodSeveral categoriesFood
Established199720061981
InspectionAnnual on-site by FLOCERT (independent of Fairtrade International)Annual on-site, Ecocert-administeredAnnual on-site, bio.inspecta accredited
Residue testingNot for organic — Fairtrade alone doesn't test residuesRisk-basedRequired
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.
  • Fair pricing for producers.
  • Compliance with ILO core conventions on labour rights, no forced or child labour.
  • Environmental criteria including organic-or-equivalent farming practices.
  • Annual on-site audit by Ecocert.
  • Whole-farm conversion.
  • Lower nitrogen inputs than the Swiss federal organic baseline.
  • Strong animal welfare requirements.
  • Annual on-site inspection.
Does NOT
  • Doesn't mean organic — many Fairtrade products are conventionally grown. A separate Fairtrade-Organic dual certification exists.
  • Doesn't itself mean organic — pair with an organic mark for the full picture.
  • Switzerland is outside the EU — the Knospe is recognised by the EU under the Switzerland-EU equivalence agreement, but not by USDA without further certification.

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