Fair Trade in the ‘Periphery’: The development of Comercio Justo México and potential lessons for FLO Fairtrade

Fair Trade has been claimed as one of the success stories in relation to developing more sustainable approaches to production and consumption. However, has one of the largest players, the Fair Trade Labelling Organisations
International (FLO), got it right? While they have certainly facilitated the expansion of Fair Trade by encouraging mainstream players, will the system end
up benefiting the types of company that Fair Trade was originally established to challenge? This is certainly the view of Mexican Fair Trade supporters who, in drawing up their own national Fair Trade initiative, Comercio Justo México (CJM), have expanded on the FLO’s approach in an effort to prevent such a tendency in their own system. Does this adapted framework echo the future of Fair Trade or
is it a regulatory step too far for a system that works both ‘within and against the market’? This comment seeks to establish the suggestion that whatever the
ultimate outcome, European Fair Traders would do well to play close attention to the outcomes in México. After all, if Fair Trade is about empowering the marginalised to participate, it would surely be wrong to then ignore their voice when they speak.