Talk of being ethical is not enough; consumers want
corporate claims to be independently verifiable. This simple
consumer demand for impartial information feeds a complex debate
about what ethical trade is, who monitors it, and how it should be
developed.
Through our involvement in the Ethical Trade Fact-finding
Process (ETFP), CI is working to bring clarity to some of the
issues.
The ETFP was established following the workshop Can
consumers rely on fair trade claims?, held by the
ISO Committee on consumer policy (ISO/COPOLCO) in 2007. The
project, with support from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs
and ISO, ran in two phases, from March 2009 until September
2010.
Steering group
The ETFP was led by a Steering Group consisting of Consumers
International (CI), the French National Standards Body AFNOR, the
Brazilian National Standards Body ABNT, the ISEAL Alliance and the
Fair Trade organisations FLO and WFTO (Fair Trade Advocacy Office),
with the Secretary of ISO COPOLCO as an observer.
Goals
The ETFP was initiated to build consumer confidence in
purchasing ethically traded products and services by recommending
solutions to reduce the potential for consumer confusion caused by
inaccurate and unreliable 'ethical' claims.
Report
In September 2010 ETFP reported back on its findings, which
have been published in the first report of its kind (ETFP Summary
downloadable below).
The report gives a summary of the project to date, including a
thorough review of existing studies on the nature and extent of
unreliable ethical claims and related impacts on consumer
confusion.