unfss

About UNFSS

The United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS) is a joint initiative of 5 UN Agencies (FAO, ITC, UNCTAD, UN Environment and UNIDO) that seeks to address these challenges. It is a demand-driven forum for intergovernmental actors to communicate among each other and engage with key target groups (producers, traders, consumers, standard-setters, certification-bodies, trade diplomats, relevant NGOs and researchers) to address their information needs and influence concerned stakeholders. It aims to provide impartial information, analysis, and discussions on VSS and their potential contribution to facilitate market access, strengthen public goods and achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Most importantly, the UNFSS focuses on potential trade or development obstacles VSS may create, with particular emphasis on their impact on SMEs and less developed countries.

November 14, 2014

UNFSS at IFOAM Organic World Congress, Istanbul

  The UNFSS Working Group on enhancing interoperability of VSS focuses on organic agriculture as a sector that provides leading edge examples of innovation and impact of standards and technical regulations towards achieving environmental, social and economic goals. Organic agriculture and trade, which has come to be regulated by governments, now crucially depends on collaboration between those governments, the private sector and civil society. At the IFOAM Organic World Congress, held from 13-15 October 2014 in Istanbul and drawing

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October 24, 2014

UNFSS at the WTO Public Forum 2014

The UNFSS participated in a session of the WTO Public Forum 2014 under the topic “Voluntary Sustainability Standards: Building Equity in and Access to Sustainable Markets” on 3 October 2014 at the WTO headquarters, Geneva. The session was hosted by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the State of Sustainability Initiatives (SSI). Panelists included representatives from the UNFSS, the Sustainable Commodity Assistance Network (SCAN), Smallholders’ Access to Markets for Certified Sustainable

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UNFSS in CII/IISD Conference – New Delhi, India

UNFSS addresses CII/IISD Conference on Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement: Its Impact on India and Developing Nations in New Delhi, India on 12 August 2014. Ulrich Hoffmann, Coordinator of the UNFSS, was invited by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development to make a presentation on the importance of private sustainability standards for market access, their role as governance tool in international supply chains and their contribution to achieving specific sustainable

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Berlin urban garden
July 31, 2014

UNFSS in Expert Hearing on international food standards – Berlin, Germany

Frank Grothaus of the UNFSS support group attended this meeting, organized by the Joint Conference Church and Development (GKKE) – a joint Protestant-Catholic advocacy group in the area of development policy – on June 2nd, 2014 in Berlin, Germany. The objective of the expert hearing was to discuss the challenges and opportunities of international food standards – in particular private food standards – in the context of market participation of smallholder farmers, poverty eradication, food security and

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June 25, 2014

UNFSS at ICCO’s World Cocoa Conference, Amsterdam

The UNFSS was presented at ICCO’s World Cocoa Conference in Amsterdam on June, 11th, 2014. This global conference for the cocoa sector brings together the governments from the cocoa producing and consuming countries, as well as a wide variety of stakeholders (over 1,200 registered attendees). The UNFSS presentation focused on the joint activities the UNFSS and ICCO had organized over the past year to address the issue of Voluntary Sustainability Standards in this important sector, which included

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May 14, 2014

UNFSS participation in the Standards Conclave – New Delhi, India

Standards Conclave – Role of Standards in International Trade: Challenges, Opportunities & Issues. 16-17 April, 2014, Hotel Shangri-La, New Delhi Arpit Bhutani atttended the event as an observer for the UN Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS). The meeting was a joint initiative of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), partnering with the Bureau of Indian Standards, the Centre for WTO Studies and the National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB) and drawing on some

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March 28, 2014

ICCO and UNFSS partner on 2nd International Cocoa Certification Workshop

On March 6-7, 2014, the International Cocoa Organization, in collaboration with the UNFSS, held The Second International Workshop on Cocoa Certification: Direct Dialogue Between The Industry and Producing Countries in Zurich, Switzerland on the issue of Sustainability Standards in the cocoa sector. At the event were over 70 participants from Europe, the United States, Africa, Latin America and South-East Asia, representing cocoa producers, governments from cocoa exporting and importing countries, the cocoa and chocolate industry, certification bodies, civil society and

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December 20, 2013

Launching the annual reports of COSA and SSI, 30-31 January 2014

The UNFSS, in collaboration with the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of Switzerland (SECO), the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research (MISTRA) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), will be organizing three short events on the occasion of the launch of the State of Sustainability Initiatives (SSI) Review 2014 and the First COSA Global Report on 30 and 31 January 2014. The events will

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December 4, 2013

Summary Reports for workshops for ASEAN and for the Philippines

The Summary Reports are now available for the UNFSS workshops for ASEAN and for the Philippines, held in Clark Freeport, the Philippines. The workshops were jointly organized by the UNFSS and the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Product Standards, Department of Agriculture of the Philippines. Downloads: Summary Report UNFSS Regional Briefing ASEAN 24 Oct Summary Report UNFSS National Briefing Philippines 25 Oct The presentations given during the sessions are available

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October 11, 2013

Workshops for ASEAN and the Philippines 24-25 Oct

UNFSS workshops for ASEAN and for the Philippines, jointly organized by UNFSS and the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Product Standards, Department of Agriculture of the Philippines, will take place on October 24th and October 25th in Dau, the Philippines. The workshops are targeted at key decision-makers and stakeholders from government, the private sector, civil society and academia. High-level speakers and panelists comprise officials from the Department of Agriculture (DA) of the Philippines, the UNFSS and collaborating UN agencies, the Asian

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