article be merged into fairtrade labelling organizations international . discuss proposed since october 2016 . this article has multiple issues . please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . june 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message this article may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral . please help improve it by replacing them with more appropriate citations to reliable independent third party sources . june 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message flo cert gmbh type limited company industry product certification founded 2003 headquarters bonn germany key people rudiger meyer managing director ; nigel h croft chairman of the supervisory board products audit certification trade audit website www.flo cert.net flo cert is the inspection and certification body for labelled fairtrade . it is one of the two organizations which resulted from the january 2004 split of fairtrade labelling organizations international . flo cert today inspects and certifies producer organizations in more than 70 countries in europe africa asia and latin america . in order to guarantee the credibility of the fairtrade certification mark flo cert operates an independent transparent and worldwide consistent certification system that follows the requirements of iso 65 the international quality norm for certification bodies . contents 1 producer certification 2 trade certification 3 iso 65 accreditation 4 references 5 external links producer certification edit flo cert ensures that producers and traders comply with the flo international fairtrade standards that traders pay the fairtrade premium to producers and that producers invest the benefits received through fairtrade in their development . flo cert works with a network of 120 independent inspectors that yearly visit all organizations producers and traders and report back to flo cert . the audit methodology is tailor made for the evaluation of the fairtrade standards . the inspectors are locally based in the country itself or neighbouring country and familiar with the local culture law and language . the time the inspector spends on the ground depends on the size of the producer organization the complexity of the producer organization and the number of certified products they are seeking to sell . a full fairtrade inspection can take from 4.5 days for a small producer organisation up to six or seven weeks for the largest co operative unions . no producer organization can become certified without an initial physical inspection . flo cert operates a group certification model which includes the inspection of the central organization and random checks of a representative sample of individual farmers . the size of the sample is normally based on a square root approach which is standard practice in group certification . renewal of the certificate is based on an annual physical inspection . in exceptional circumstances where they have demonstrated a very good compliance record over the previous years producer organisations may qualify for a desk top review as part of a three year inspection cycle . this can lead to valuable cost savings for the certified producers . the cost of the certification is based on the number of working days required for inspection of the producer group ; it is not based on the volumes of products sold to the fairtrade market . following an inspection a report is sent to flo cert for evaluation . the evaluator submits a recommendation to the managers of flo cert whether this producer should be certified . the final certification decisions are taken by the director . a further quality control takes place every two months when the external certification committee reviews the decisions of flo cert and provides additional guidance . trade certification edit flo cert has also developed a trade auditing system to monitor traders compliance with the flo international fairtrade standards and that traders pay the fairtrade premium to producers . the system was created to check that every fairtrade labelled product sold to a consumer has indeed been produced by a certified producer organization which has been paid the fairtrade price . a network of inspectors conduct trade certification supported by staff at flo cert headquarters in bonn . similarly to producer certification trade certification decisions are taken by a different person from the one who evaluated the organisation and wrote the inspection report . an independent certification committee meets every two months to advise flo cert on certification decisions and policies and to maintain an overview of decision making . it comprises a balance of key stakeholders such as certified operators independent certification experts and consumer representation . the most complex cases are sent to this committee for evaluation . fairtrade licensees companies that have license contracts to use a fairtrade label are also subjected to auditing although this has until now been conducted by national fairtrade labelling initiatives with the exception of licensees in france spain and germany which are audited by flo cert . iso 65 accreditation edit the international fairtrade certification system received iso accreditation in october 2007 a worldwide first for any social certification system . iso 65 accreditation means 1 independence a certification body must be independent of any external pressure being able to influence a certification decision . transparency the evaluation and certification processes must be transparent and explained to all parties before inspection . quality certification decisions can only be consistent and suitable if there are proper internal control mechanisms . the existence of a quality control system for example supported by regular internal audits is essential to identify problems and continuously improve service . equality all producers must be treated equally . references edit http www.flo cert.net flo cert main.php lg en external links edit flo cert irft india v t e fair trade core topics history of fair trade fairtrade certification fair trade and politics fair trade impact studies fair trade debate alternative trading organization trade justice trade justice movement sweatshops body shopping worldshop federations fairtrade labelling organizations international world fair trade organization network of european worldshops european fair trade association fine fair trade federation international resources for fairer trade irft certification fair trade certification flo international standard setting and producer support flo cert inspection & certification international fairtrade certification mark fair trade certified mark labeling initiatives asociaci n del sello de productos de comercio justo fair trade association of australia and new zealand fairtrade mark ireland the fairtrade foundation association max havelaar france stichting max havelaar max havelaar stiftung switzerland fairtrade canada fair trade usa formerly transfair usa alternative trading organizations alter eco artisans du monde caf direct ctm altromercato divine chocolate equal exchange equal exchange trading rainforest alliance gepa the fair trade company handcrafting justice serrv international traidcraft twin trading ten thousand villages veja sneakers campaigns fairtrade town list of fairtrade settlements fairtrade fortnight make trade fair no sweat world fair trade day media black gold 2006 film brewing justice book category fair trade retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title flo cert & oldid 743040946 categories fair trade organizationsorganisations based in bonnorganizations established in 2003hidden categories articles to be merged from october 2016all articles to be mergedarticles needing additional references from june 2016all articles needing additional referencesarticles lacking reliable references from june 2016all articles lacking reliable references navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages espa olitaliano edit links this page was last modified on 7 october 2016 at 12 14 . text is available 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