Glossary
If you feel that the world of Fair Trade has its very own language – don’t fret! We’ll keep you in the know!
With this glossary we’ll guide you through the common technical terms used by FLOCERT, Fairtrade International and the World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO).
Learn about the wor(l)ds of Fair Trade below!
Assurance
FLOCERT provides independent and impartial assurance services. This requires the following five components:
- A three-party relationship – the responsible party who prepares the information to be assured; the independent practitioner who assures the information; and the users who are expected to rely on the information. In the case of a Fairtrade audit, the responsible party is the management of the Fairtrade-certified organisation, the practitioner is FLOCERT as the audit firm, and the users are primarily the Fairtrade stakeholders.
- An agreed subject matter – in the case of a Fairtrade audit, this would be all aspects of the organisation relating to relevant Fairtrade Standards. On a more general level, it could be almost anything – the systems operated by a state lottery, a company’s greenhouse gas emissions, controls over a supply chain, etc.
- Suitable criteria – this means that there must be some agreed framework to which the information may be compared. In the case of Fairtrade, this takes the form of the Fairtrade Standards and the relevant Compliance Criteria.
- Sufficient appropriate evidence – the practitioner (i.e. FLOCERT) must obtain sufficient appropriate evidence that the subject matter information is in line with the criteria.
- A conclusion expressed in a written report.