Fairtrade Certification - History

History

Although many attempts to market fair trade products were observed in the 1960s and 1970s, fair trade sales only became widespread with the Max Havelaar labeling initiative in 1988 and the establishment of Fairtrade International (which included other regional initiatives like it) in 1997. Fair trade sales prior to labelling initiatives were contained to relatively small world shops (also called charity shops), operated by alternative trading organizations (ATOs) such as Oxfam and Traidcraft. Many felt that these world shops were too disconnected from the rhythm and the lifestyle of contemporary developed societies. The inconvenience of going to them to buy only a product or two was too high even for the most dedicated customers. The only way to increase sale opportunities was to start offering fair trade products where consumers normally shop, in the large distribution channels. The problem was to find a way to expand distribution without compromising consumer trust in fair trade products and in their origins.

At the initiative of Mexican coffee farmers, the first fair trade labelling initiative, Stichting Max Havelaar, was launched in the Netherlands on November 15, 1988 by Nico Roozen, Frans van der Hoff and Dutch ecumenical development agency Solidaridad. The initiative offered disadvantaged coffee producers following various social and environmental standards an above market price for their crop. The coffee, originating from the UCIRI cooperative in Mexico, was imported by Dutch company Van Weely, roasted by Neuteboom, sold directly to worldshops and, for the first time, to mainstream retailers across the Netherlands.

The initiative was groundbreaking as for the first time Fairtrade coffee was being offered to a larger consumer segment. Fairtrade labelling certification provided some assurance that the products were really benefiting the farm workers at the end of the supply chain.

The initiative was a great financial success and was replicated in several other markets: in the ensuing years, similar non-profit Fairtrade labelling organizations were set up in other European countries and North America, called “Max Havelaar” (in Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway and France), “Transfair” (in Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Italy, the United States, Canada and Japan), or carrying a national name: “Fairtrade Mark” in the UK and Ireland, “Rättvisemärkt” in Sweden, and "Reilu kauppa" (Finnish) or "Rejäl handel" (Swedish) in Finland.