 | |
| Company type | Non-profit organization |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1988; 38 years ago (1988) |
| Headquarters | Utrecht,Netherlands |
Key people | Peter d'Angremond, Director since July 2009 |
| Website | www |
Fairtrade Nederland, formerly known asMax Havelaar,[1] is theDutch member ofFairtrade International, which unites 23Fairtrade certification producer and labelling initiatives acrossEurope,Asia,Latin America,North America,Africa,Australia andNew Zealand.
The Fairtrade label, the world's firstFairtrade Certification Mark, was officially launched by Stichting Max Havelaar on 15 November 1988, under the efforts ofNico Roozen,Frans van der Hoff andDutchecumenicaldevelopment agencySolidaridad. The label, used to distinguish Fairtrade products from conventional ones, aims to improve "the living and working conditions of small farmers and agricultural workers in disadvantaged regions".[2] The first fairly traded coffee originated from theUCIRI cooperative in Mexico and was imported by Dutch companyVan Weely, roasted byNeuteboom, before being sold directly toworldshops and, for the first time, to mainstream retailers across the Netherlands.
Today, Fairtrade products are available in many shops throughout Europe, i.e. in theDutchsupermarket chains such asJumbo, which sells an average of 18 Fairtrade products per store andSuper de Boer, which sells an average of 17 products per store. Fairtrade products are also available atAlbert Heijnsupermarkets across theNetherlands and online atMUD Jeans, the Dutch fair trade certified denim brand.[3]
In 2006, Fairtrade labelled sales in theNetherlands amounted to €41 million, a 12% year-to-year increase.[4]
It was named afterMax Havelaar, a character in a Dutch 19th-century novel critical of Dutch colonialism in the Dutch East Indies.[5]
TheDutch province ofGroningen was sued in 2007 by Dutch coffee supplierDouwe Egberts for explicitly requiring its coffee suppliers to meet fair trade criteria set by Stichting Max Havelaar, most notably the payment of a minimum price and a development premium to producer cooperatives. Douwe Egberts, which sells a number of coffee brands under self-developed ethical criteria, believed the requirements were discriminatory. After several months of discussions and legal challenges, the province of Groningen prevailed in a well-publicized judgement in favor of the province. Coen de Ruiter, director of Stichting Max Havelaar, called the victory a landmark event: "it provides governmental institutions the freedom in theirpurchasing policy to require suppliers to provide coffee that bears the fair trade criteria, so that a substantial and meaningful contribution is made in the fight against poverty through the daily cup of coffee".[6]
| Core topics | |
|---|---|
| Federations | |
| Certification | |
| Labeling initiatives | |
Alternative trading organizations | |
| Campaigns | |
| Media | |
