Local Fair Trade in Belgium: BFTF's North-North approach (Belgian Fair Trade Federation)

Based on the observation that "North-South fair trade and North-North fair trade complement each other more than they oppose each other", BFTF, the Belgian Fair Trade Federation, has given itself the mission to "federate and support Belgian fair trade organisations whose philosophy is in line with the standards of the Word Fair Trade Organisation for North/South fair trade and with the criteria of the ‘Prix Juste Producteur’ label for North/North fair trade." Its members include Fairebel, the now well-known brand of fair milk, the Fair Producer Price label, as well as several Belgian producers and distributors of agricultural products favouring short supply chains.

Summary of BFTF membership criteria for full ‘North-North’ Fair Trade Members

Nature of the organisations	Aimed at serving the members of the organisation concerned and the community rather than profit. Autonomy of management. Participatory decision-making methods Fair distribution of the added value to the various links in the chain.
Economic practices of organisations: the business relationship	Fair price allowing a stable and fairly negotiated remuneration, meaning that producers can make a decent living from their activity. Direct supply chain. Long-term relationship. Pre-financing (advance payment to producers of part of their order, unless they do not require this). Traceability and transparency (down to the raw materials and their producers).
Economic practices of organisations: practices by profession	Producer organisations Individual producers belong formally or informally to one or more producer organisations. Local anchoring in production and supply Participation in a local development dynamic Empowerment of producers and their families Pooling of resources and skills Family character of the production Fulfilling working conditions and decent pay for workers (in addition to compliance with ILO standards where applicable) Respect for the environment  Importers, wholesalers and processors (B2B) Sourcing mainly from producer organisations that meetNorth-South and/or North-North fair trade criteria (initially: minimum 75% of the total value of the turnover (aim to reach 100% once a member). Distributors-retailers (B2C) Majority supply of products that meet fair trade criteria: 60% of the sales value (objective to reach 100% once a member, for retailers offering exclusively non-food products). Organisations involved in education, awareness-raising or advocacy in favour of fair trade, on the one hand, or in providing technical support and financing for family farming producers involved in fair trade, on the other hand, can be members of the BFTF.