The term fair trade is not legally protected and can therefore be used freely. As a rule, it refers to initiatives that advocate fairer payment for producers and partnership-based trade relations with partners in poor countries.

Fair trade helps to ensure that farmers and workers can make a decent living from their work and build a future for themselves and their families. Fair Trade cannot be the solution to the global poverty problems in this world, but it certainly means a way out of extreme poverty for more than a million people. At the same time, it shows governments, companies and consumers that a different world with fairer trade relations is possible.

The four international umbrella organizations of Fair Trade have agreed on the following definition:

Organic and fairly produced are not synonymous. Around 65 percent of fair trade food is also certified organic. This can be recognized by the EU organic seal.

There are two concepts in fair trade. On the one hand, there are organizations that award seals for fairly traded goods but do not trade themselves. Here, licensees receive the right to use a seal for their products for a fee - on the condition that they meet the established criteria in production. On the other hand, there are trade organizations and companies that draw up their own guidelines for fair production, work with local producers and then market these goods here.

Dozens of seals, logos and brands now certify that their products meet social and ecological standards; some of these are awarded by independent bodies, others are self-certified by companies.