To become certified Fairtrade producers, the primary cooperative and its member farmers must operate to certain political standards, imposed from Europe.

[1] In the Fair trade debate there are many complaints of failure to enforce these standards, with Fairtrade cooperatives, importers and packers profiting by evading them.

[2] As of 2006, the following products currently carry the Fairtrade Mark: coffee, tea, chocolate, cocoa, sugar, bananas, apples, pears, grapes, plums, lemons, oranges, Satsumas, clementines, lychees, avocados, pineapples, mangoes, fruit juices, quinoa, peppers, green beans, coconut, dried fruit, rooibos tea, green tea, cakes and biscuits, honey, muesli, cereal bars, jams, chutney and sauces, herbs and spices, nuts and nut oil, wine, beer, rum, flowers, footballs, rice, yogurt, baby food, sugar body scrub, cotton wool and cotton products.

[3] The marketing system for Fairtrade and non-Fairtrade coffee is identical in the consuming countries, using mostly the same importing, packing, distributing and retailing firms.

[6] There is however evidence that dishonest importers do not pay the full Fairtrade price, so an even smaller proportion reaches the Third World.

[7] Cooperative traders and exporters can sell coffee as Fairtrade certified if they meet the political standards of FLO and they pay a certification and inspection fee.

[9] After the additional costs have been subtracted from the Fairtrade price, the rest goes on ‘Social Projects’ such as clinics, women’s groups and baseball pitches.

Fairtrade Standards for hired labour situations ensure that employees receive minimum wages and bargain collectively.

)[20] In a hired labour situation, Fairtrade Standards require a "joint body" to be set up with representatives from both the management and the employees.

Trade standards cover the payment of premiums, of minimum prices, where applicable, the provision of credit to buy the crop, and commercial relationships between the exporting cooperative or other organization and the importer.

There have been complaints that Fairtrade standards are inappropriate and may harm producers, sometimes imposing months of additional work for little return.

[22] There have also been complaints that standards set by a small committee of activists in the rich north have been imposed on poor farmers in the Third World.

They are not paid for everything produced by the cooperative members, but for that proportion of13their output they are able to sell with the brand 'Fairtrade Certified', typically 17% to as much as 60% of their turnover.

De Janvry, McIntosh and Sadoulet[26] have quantified this for a large group of Fairtrade coffee cooperatives in South America over a dozen years.

[28] There is criticism of poor enforcement: labourers on Fairtrade farms in Peru are paid less than the minimum wage;[29] some non-Fairtrade coffee is sold as Fairtrade;[30] "the standards are not very strict in the case of seasonally hired labour in coffee production";[31] "some fair trade standards are not strictly enforced";[32] and supermarkets may avoid their responsibility.

[30] Fairtrade farmers and marketing organizations incur a wide range of costs in achieving and maintaining certification.

The concept caught on: in the ensuing years, similar non-profit Fairtrade labelling organizations were set up in other European countries and North America, called “Max Havelaar” (in Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway and France), "Transfair" (in Germany, Luxembourg, Austria, Italy, the United States, Canada and Japan), or carrying a national name: “Fairtrade Mark” in the UK and Ireland, "Rättvisemärkt" in Sweden, and "Reilu Kauppa" in Finland.

Initially, the Max Havelaars and the Transfairs each had their own Fairtrade standards, product committees and monitoring systems.

The goals of the launch were to improve the visibility of the Mark on supermarket shelves, convey a dynamic, forward-looking image for Fairtrade, facilitate cross border trade and simplify procedures for importers and traders.

There are now Fairtrade Certification Marks on dozens of different products, based on FLO’s certification for coffee, tea, rice, bananas, mangoes, cocoa, cotton, sugar, honey, fruit juices, nuts, fresh fruit, quinoa, herbs and spices, wine and footballs etc.

[3] According to the economist Bruce Wydick with the median coffee drinker willing to pay a premium of 50 cents for a cup of fair-trade coffee even in the best-case scenario for fair trade, when world prices are at their lowest, the maximum amount a fair-trade grower from that same cup of coffee would receive is only one third of a cent[43] Wydick lists his points against the alleged benefits of fair trade: According to Colleen Haight from San Jose State University is in the fact that Fairtrade doesn't buy the complete production of a producer, making him sell his better products on the free market and passing on his lower quality goods to the fairtrade channel.