What is the difference between Fair Trade and Ethical Trade?

Both Ethical Trade and Fair Trade aim to bring real benefits to the lives of workers in developing countries. Both seek to improve incomes and working conditions. But they differ in the groups of producers and workers they target, and in the methods used to achieve their objectives, as well as in the underlying objectives of the organisations involved in them.

Fair Trade targets disadvantaged communities and organisations working with them, to enable them to be involved in international trade. Fair Trade involves working in partnership with producers to help them build their skills and capacity to trade more effectively with organisations in developed countries.

The term 'Ethical Trade' is now most commonly used to refer to the work of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). This is a partnership of high street companies, NGOs and trade unions, with support from the government. The ETI's aim is to ensure that internationally recognised labour standards, in particular fundamental human rights in the workplace, are observed at all stages in the production of high street goods sold in the UK. The ETI's work is based on standards laid down in Conventions agreed under the International Labour Organisation, which have the force of international law. For more information about the ETI, visit www.ethicaltrade.org.

Whilst Oxfam hopes that one day, all goods available in the UK will have been traded according to the standards of the ETI, Fair Trade is about more than just standards and codes of conduct; it is about working in partnership with disadvantaged groups, helping them to overcome the serious barriers they face in finding a market for the goods they grow or make. Oxfam stocks a range of both fairly and ethically traded products in its shops. Click here for more information on Oxfam's product sourcing policy.