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	? 'Natural' (NOT a certification) Worldwide · Tier 4 Marketing	Fairtrade International Global · Tier 3 Specialty	Naturland Germany · Tier 2 Trusted	Debio Ø (Norway) Norway · Tier 2 Trusted
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.	A German farmers' association whose private organic standard is stricter than the EU baseline. Covers food, aquaculture, textiles, and cosmetics. Recognised globally.	Norway's only accredited organic certifier. The Ø-merket is required on any food sold as 'økologisk' in Norway. Operates to EU 2018/848 equivalence plus Norwegian add-ons.
Scope	Several categories	Food	Several categories	Food
Established	—	1997	1982	1986
Inspection	None	Annual on-site by FLOCERT (independent of Fairtrade International)	Annual on-site by Naturland-accredited inspectors	Annual on-site by Debio-accredited inspectors
Residue testing	None	Not for organic — Fairtrade alone doesn't test residues	Required	Required
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.	Stricter than EU 2018/848 (lower nitrogen inputs, full-farm conversion, social standards). Annual on-site inspection. Fair-pricing requirements for member farmers.	EU baseline organic. Annual on-site inspection. Norwegian-specific welfare standards (esp. for cold-climate livestock).
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.	Membership-based — only farms that join the Naturland association can use the mark.	Norway is outside the EU — the Ø is recognised under EEA equivalence, not direct EU equivalence.

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