Do I have to be organic to get IMO Social & FairTrade Certification?
You do not need to be organic, but if you are already organic (or if the product you want certified is organic), then it streamlines the effort to add fair trade certification on top of it. However, IMO Social & FairTrade Certification ensures certain minimal environmental criteria are met, therefore, if you don’t have any organic or other certification that confirms compliance with environmental minimum good practices, you will need to fulfill the additional IMO environmental minimum criteria in addition to the actual social & fair trade criteria. If you are going for FairWild Certification, it is assumed that you are either certified organic or complying with ISSC-MAP criteria or that you have developed a concept and action timetable to reach full compliance with organic and/or ISSC-MAP standards within 1-3 years.
