Fair Trade and the Solidarity Economy: the challenges ahead
Summary of the Fair Trade Workshop’s Activities

Fair Trade Workshop, Alliance21 Workgroup on Solidarity Socio-Economy (WSSE), in collaboration with the
Chair of Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development, ESG, UQAM

By Véronique Bisaillon, Corinne Gendron and Marie-France Turcotte
Fair Trade Workshop, Alliance for a Responsible, Plural and United World
Chair of Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development, School of Management Sciences, University of Quebec, Montreal

November 2005
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Emergence and definition of Fair Trade
2.1 Towards a definition of Fair Trade
2.2 The principles and objectives of Fair Trade
2.3 Fair Trade: a commercial partnership
2.4 The success of Fair Trade
2.5 Regulators and transformers: two visions of Fair Trade
3. Strategic issues for the Fair Trade movement
3.1 Certification
3.2 Retail practices
3.3 Local development
3.4 The impact of Fair Trade
3.5 Inequalities and Fair Trade
3.6 Communication, circulation of information and information for consumers
3.7 Synergies with other initiatives and movements
3.8 Public recognition and international trade
4. Towards a new Fair Trade paradigm rooted in 21st century governance principles
4.1 Governance is based on a territorial approach and the principle of active subsidiarity.
4.2 Governance acts as the vehicle for the establishment of plural communities, from the neighbourhood to the planetary level
4.3 Governance puts the economy in its place
4.4 Governance is founded on the universal ethics of responsibility
4.5 Governance defines the cycle of the decision-making and administration process of public policies
4.6 Governance organizes cooperation and synergy between actors
4.7 Governance is the art of designing systems that correspond to the set objectives
4.8 Governance is used to control the flow of exchanges between