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Key aspects of the SAR include:

  • Section 1: Supplier Monitoring Form
    • Information about your suppliers/producers
      • Including when you last visited the group to monitor them
    • Self Assessment of your Internal Monitoring System
  • Section 2: Compliance Assessment Form
    • You will be asked to give a rating about your compliance with each of the criteria set out in the Standard. Many of these criteria questions are mandatory requirements for members to meet, either from the beginning or over a period of time. Other questions are continuous improvements – members will need to demonstrate their improvement on these points.
  • Sources of Information Section
    • All the internal documents referenced while writing the SAR should be annotated in this section. None of these documents should be sent in, unless requested. But all relevant organizational documents should be listed in this section for the peer and auditors to check.
  • Section 3: Improvement Plan
    • Each question in Section 1 and 2 that you self rated as Improvement (IMP) or Non Compliance (NC) should then be addressed in the improvement plan. This is where you can outline a feasible plan for your organization to reach the goal of meeting the standard.
  • Section 4: Peer Proposal
    • Ask and then nominate 2 to 4 individuals who would be able to come to your organization to carry out a peer visit. They can be from other FTOs (local, or from the same country or a regional network). The peer could also be from a local NGO. You should choose someone who understands Fair Trade and would be able to write a short report at the end of the visit in English (or Spanish).  The peer should not need to be paid beyond the cost of transport and accommodation if they and to stay the night.

After completing the entire Profile and SAR, please email these documents (and no other) to the regional Asia office for a round of feedback. After this, we will then submit the documents to the Global office.

Existing members that are non trading (usually this is Networks and/or Support Organizations) are required to electronically submit an updated profile every 2 years. However, if either FTN or FTSO wants to use the product label they must follow the requirements for trading members, which will include an updated SAR, too.