The FSC and the Rainforest Alliance receive global recognition for ethical trade standards

1 November 2007 

According to the ISEAL Alliance, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and NEPCon’s FSC certification partner the Rainforest Alliance have both reached the highest standards for credible behaviour in ethical trade, along with five other pioneering ethical trade organizations. The seven organizations were recently found to comply with the ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Setting Social and Environmental Standards. They are all members of the ISEAL Alliance.

The code emphasizes the inclusiveness and transparency of the standard setting process. For example, it requires the standard setting organization to ensure a balanced representation of interests in the process, allow a minimum period for each round of public consultation, and make relevant documents accessible for the public.

Compliance with the ISEAL Alliance Code is established by a self-assessment by each member organization, a desk audit conducted by the ISEAL Alliance Secretariat and a peer review by other ISEAL members.

While the Forest Stewardship Council is of course behind the development of the FSC standards, the Rainforest Alliance has developed social and environmental standards for the certification of tropical agricultural crops - the Sustainable Agricultural Network standards.

The five other organizations to achieve the ISEAL recognition are Fairtrade Labeling Organizations (FLO), International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM), Marine Aquarium Council (MAC), Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), and Social Accountability International (SAI).

About the ISEAL Alliance

The International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling (ISEAL) Alliance is an association of leading voluntary international standard-setting and conformity assessment organisations that focus on social and environmental issues. 

Angela Caudle, Executive Director, IFOAM

Richard Howitt, MEP

Dr Sasha Courville, Executive Director, ISEAL Alliance


According to the Alliance, its members represent over US$ 53 billion of retail value in certified products delivering social and environmental benefits to 117 million hectares of agricultural land globally and the workers of over 15,000 factories, fisheries and farms world-wide.

Sources: The ISEAL Alliance www.isealalliance.org.