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	? 'Natural' (NOT a certification) Worldwide · Tier 4 Marketing	Fairtrade International Global · Tier 3 Specialty	Canada Organic Biologique Canada · Tier 1 Gold	EU Ecolabel (Flower) European Union · Tier 3 Specialty
What it means	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.	Certifies fair prices and conditions for producers in developing countries — not organic, not environmental. Common on coffee, cocoa, sugar, bananas, tea.	The federal Canadian organic standard, mandatory on any agricultural product sold across provincial borders or imported as 'organic'.	The European Commission's voluntary environmental label. Covers cleaning products, paper, textiles, electronics, accommodation services. NOT an organic mark.
Scope	Several categories	Food	Food	Several categories
Established	—	1997	2009	1992
Inspection	None	Annual on-site by FLOCERT (independent of Fairtrade International)	Annual on-site by CFIA-accredited certifier	Annual audit by national Ecolabel competent body
Residue testing	None	Not for organic — Fairtrade alone doesn't test residues	Risk-based, conducted by accredited certifiers	Per-category limits
Guarantees	Nothing. It is not a certification and there is no body verifying anything.	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.	≥95% organic ingredients (single-ingredient products: 100%). No synthetic pesticides, no GMOs, no irradiation. Annual third-party certification under the Canada Organic Regime.	Lifecycle-based environmental criteria per product category. Restrictions on hazardous chemicals. Annual licence renewal with audit.
Does NOT	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.	Doesn't mean organic — many Fairtrade products are conventionally grown. A separate Fairtrade-Organic dual certification exists.	Provincial sales-only operations are not legally required to carry it (though many do voluntarily).	Doesn't apply to food. Doesn't mean organic.

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