Fair Trade Certified FAQs

Fair Trade USA certifies producers and groups of producers of all sizes, including farms, fisheries, and factories.

Fair Trade Certified products and goods span a number of industries including: Coffee, Consumer Packaged Goods, Dairy, Factories, Floral, Produce, and Seafood.

View a full list of products and goods we certify. We are committed to continuously innovating within new categories to best accommodate the needs of our partners.

Please contact us by filling out a form on our Get Started page so we can explore if certification makes sense for your product.

Fluctuations in world market prices hit workers and farmers the hardest, so some Fair Trade Certified products have a set Fair Trade Minimum Price (see our Prices and Premiums Search page for more details). This serves as a safety net for producers in particularly volatile markets when prices dip too low and creates real opportunities for improved livelihoods.

For every Fair Trade Certified product sold, a business or importer pays a Fair Trade Premium that goes into a worker-controlled Community Development Fund at origin. From there, a Fair Trade Committee, which consists of workers, farmers, and/or fishers responsible for the product, decides together how to spend the funds to improve their lives and meet their unique individual and collective needs, as well as the needs of their communities and environments.

To look up the premium amount for a particular product, see our Prices and Premiums Search page.

A Fair Trade Committee consists of a group of producers, workers, farmers, and fishers that foster communication and collaboration on important issues such as health and safety and community investments. Their main responsibility is to manage the use of the Fair Trade Community Development Fund. These projects are determined through a Needs Assessment (a framework that helps Fair Trade Committees determine how to scope and establish projects). You can learn more about the Needs Assessment process here.

Yes. Fair Trade USA understands that producers have worked hard to achieve these certificates, so we honor most FLO-CERT certifications.

No. The process of getting certified is a journey of continuous improvement, but there are minimum requirements that must be met prior to certification. Visit our Standards page to learn more.

Maintaining certification means complying with the Fair Trade Standard minimum requirements and increasing compliance each year to ultimately meet full requirements. This will be verified by passing an audit each year.

For a more in-depth picture of how Fair Trade works, visit our How We Work page. You can also visit Our Impact page.

Please visit our Get Started page and fill out the form that applies to you (Business, Producer, Philanthropic Supporter, or Consumer).

• Capture Fisheries Standard (CFS 2.0.0) Revision
• Standards Development and Revision Process
• Factory Standard Revisions

Fair Trade USA standards are developed and updated through a transparent process that includes broad consultations with a wide range of stakeholders, including farmers, workers, businesses, and external experts. Fair Trade USA regularly reviews its standards and releases major revisions approximately every five years to ensure they remain relevant and impactful. The organization also continuously reviews its prices and premiums to ensure they deliver positive results for farmers, fishers, and workers. This process is in line with the ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Standard Setting.

Fair Trade USA’s certification system is overseen by independent, third-party certifiers who audit farms, factories, and fisheries against our rigorous standards. These certifiers ensure compliance through regular on-site audits, worker interviews, and document reviews. Fair Trade USA develops and maintains the standards, but the auditing and compliance verification are carried out by accredited certification bodies to ensure impartiality and credibility.

It is important to clarify that Fair Trade USA does not certify companies (brands/retailers/manufacturers). Instead, they certify the supply chains—the farms, fisheries, and factories where the products are produced. These producers must meet and adhere to Fair Trade USA’s production standards.

Brands and retailers are held accountable through a separate Trade Standard and are granted licensing rights to use the Fair Trade Certified seal. This is a key difference from other certifications, like B Corp, which certify the business as a whole. A product can lose its certification if the supply chain fails to comply with the production standards. Likewise, a brand can lose its license to use the seal if it fails to meet the Trade Standard.

The initial certification for a producer is valid for approximately 3.5 years. To maintain the certificate, surveillance audits are conducted annually. A renewal audit is carried out during the third year to begin a new three-year certification cycle. Additionally, unannounced audits can be conducted at any time if there are indications of additional risk, such as specific allegations or complaints about non-compliance.