Our Standard
The FairTSA Fair Trade Standard
Announcing Version 4
A resounding THANK YOU to all who have commented and given input!
Certification under Standard Version 3.2 is permissible for a transition period ending on December 31st, 2023.
Here are some of the new features:
• We reorganized and reformatted the standard so that it is easier to reference.
• The readability of the standard was improved without making it too complex.
• All ILO conventions are referenced in our labor requirements to increase clarity.
• Additional information can be found in the Guide for Inspection and Certification. Here major non-compliances and sanctions are defined. It helps to maintain fairness among all certified operations regardless of the certification agency and makes the job for inspectors and reviewers easier. This structure also improves readability of the standard.
• The requirements for Social Responsibility certification are more clear.
• We are introducing new certification options for textile operations. One is based on the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and another on the Global Recycled Standard.
• On a test basis we are introducing a new logo for Socially Responsible Processing of non-food products to support smaller processors and manufacturers and let them participate in our lean and inexpensive certification system. We will closely monitor the development of this program.
FairTSA Social Responsibility
The FairTSA Social Responsibility Program solely addresses the Labor Requirements of the standard. This certification does not qualify for Fair Trade sales. It was created for committed stakeholders who need an accessible, affordable program to comply with Social Responsibility requirements of retailers.
The program for food products is only applicable for operations that are certified organic and covers the whole supply chain in the country of origin.
FairTSA Socially Responsible Processing
In response to requests from interested parties, we are introducing a new certification with an amended logo. This program for "Socially Responsible Processing" was designed for operations that manufacture textiles without organic certification. The requirements cover all applicable International Labor Conventions as well the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights in the same way that our Fair Trade program and the Social Responsibility program do. However, this program only covers the certified facility, NOT the whole supply chain. (For more information see Chapter 13 of Standard.)
GoCaps GmbH of Edling, Germany and CapsCanada of Tecumseh, ON, Canada are our first customers in this program. Congratulations for achieving this ambitious goal for their capsules manufactured in South America. You can contact them here.
