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Fairtrade Labelling Organization (FLO) International is the overall body that governs the fairtrade system. It aims to achieve high standards within the fairtrade system in terms of credibility, compliance of Fairtrade Standards by producers, traders, and retailers.

FLO's Main Tasks


 * Setting International Fairtrade Standards
 * FLO provides independent, transparent and competent standard setting by proposing the Faitrade Standards to the FLO Board that decides if standards are met. Each producer or trader has to meet the Generic Standards and the Product Standards which guarantees minimum prices that are considered fair to producers. They also aim for long term trading relationships and environmental sustainability.
 * Facilitating and Developing Fairtrade Business
 * The FLO works with both Fairtrade Certified producer organizations and traders to match supply and demand. It is aslo responsible in strengthening these organizations and improve their access to the market.
 * Making the case for Fairtrade Justice
 * FLO together with other international Fair Trade organizations, IFAT, NEWS and EFTA respectively, have created a common Platform called FINE (standing for the initial letters of FLO, IFAT, NEWS and EFTA) to work together to promote the case for trade justice in debates on trade and development.

Certification Scheme and Competition
Fairtrade has become the most dominant Fair Trade label and this has attracted a lot of competitors challenging its monopoly as an ethical label. Several labels from competitors have been created using different certification schemes. NGOs and non-profit organizations are the main threats causing enormous headache for Fairtrade International (FLO) regulating authorities. Labels like (Bird-friendly Coffee) which promote practices that help to protect the habitant of migrating birds, (American NGO Rainforest Alliance) its mission is to protect ecosystems and to preserve biodiversity and sustainability of modes of production and (UTZ Certified) is another competitor which focuses on improving the efficiency and market access of producers. However most of these organizations are criticized for failing to guarantee minimum price, failing to provide pre-financing facilities, favouring plantations at the expense of family farms. The greatest idea about the certification scheme and its competitors is that they all have a logic of innovation they constantly attempt to innovate rather than generating income only but proactively meet the changing needs of different objectives with different ambitions.