What is 4C standard coffee? Establishment of 4C Association 4C Association set up four regional offices

A brief answer to 4C Organization

1. What is the 4C Association?

4C Association is a legal, non-profit, global (United Nations) coffee industry organization registered in Geneva, Switzerland. Its full name is Common Code for the Coffee Community, which is translated into Chinese as "rules for the Management of the Coffee Community", referred to as 4C or 4C Association.

4C Association members include coffee farmers (large and small), traders (importers and exporters), practitioners (coffee roasters and retailers) and civil society (non-governmental organizations, standard-setting schemes and trade unions); members also include individuals, donors and other institutions that can also join as associate members.

4C Association is a multi-stakeholder organization, a global social work that allows coffee makers to jointly improve their economic, social and environmental conditions, with the ultimate goal of making sustainable development mainstream. And as many farmers as possible to achieve a sustainable mode of production.

two。 Why set up 4C Association?

The coffee crisis from 2001 to 2002 led to very low coffee prices for a long time, threatened the sustainability of the coffee industry and caused major difficulties in the development of coffee growing areas. As a result, growers, traders and industry and civil society representatives are aware of the need to work together to address issues that mainly affect the sustainable development of the coffee industry. In 2003, different stakeholder groups launched the Coffee Community Management Project-"4C" Association, whose slogan is "work together to develop a better Coffee World". Over the past 10 years, 4C Association has continued to be a pre-competitive platform, where stakeholder groups can work together to solve problems affecting sustainable development.

3. What is the 4C unit?

4C unit refers to the production group that produces 4C standard coffee for a long time. The setting of 4C units is flexible. A 4C unit can be a co-registered small-scale grower, such as a cooperative or farmers' association, a procurement station, a factory, a local businessman, an export organization, or a roasting coffee factory produced in a country.

There are three prerequisites for the establishment of a 4C unit: first, to be a member of the 4C association or an existing 4C member; second, to be able to provide at least one container of commercial coffee raw beans (20 tons); and third, to comply with the code of conduct of 4C. If you are a producer of commercial coffee with a raw bean output of more than 20 tons, you can register as a 4C unit. If your output is insufficient, you can join an established 4C unit, or establish a new 4C unit with other small-scale farmers; in another case, the exporting country should establish a 4C unit with the supplier.

In a 4C unit, anyone who is in direct contact with coffee is called a business partner. A person or company provides services for coffee production and direct contact with fresh fruits or commercial raw coffee beans, such as growers and pesticide spraying companies are also considered business partners.

4. What are the 10 wrong practices of coffee growers?

Coffee growers make 10 mistakes:

(1) use of child labour in extreme ways

(II) imprisonment and forced use of labour

(3) trafficking in human beings

(4) prohibiting members from becoming members or representatives of trade unions

(5) forcibly dismiss employees without reasonable compensation

(6) unable to provide suitable accommodation for workers.

(7) drinking water cannot be provided for all employees.

(8) cutting down virgin forests or destroying other natural resources

(9) use of prohibited pesticides

(X) improper transactions in business relations contrary to international law, domestic law and customary practices.

5. What criteria must farmers meet in order to comply with 4C management rules? What criteria must coffee growers meet to comply with 4C management rules?

First, coffee growers must rule out 10 erroneous practices; use 28 principles to measure their performance and progress.

The association sets an easy-to-understand red, yellow and green rating system. Red means "stop", yellow means "need to be improved", and green means "the highest level of sustainable development has been achieved".

The system can easily tell if coffee growers are on track. And point out the work that needs to be done and areas of concern to guide them towards sustainable development.

It is confirmed by independent third-party verification that the average score of the grower's 4C unit is yellow (meaning there can be some red indicators), and all operations are expected to reach green over time. More red indicators than green indicators can not become 4C units.

6. Where does the 4C Association operate?

According to Swiss law, 4C Association is registered as an independent membership organization with its headquarters in Bonn, Germany. To date, 4C Association has established four regional offices (Africa, Brazil, Central America and Latin America, Viet Nam).

7. 4How does the Association fund its activities?

The total commodity trading volume (production, trade or roasting) and status of member countries in the coffee supply chain determine the membership fees to be paid: farmers pay less and roasters pay more. Non-governmental organizations, other members and associate members are also required to pay 4C dues.

4C Association received contributions including the Department for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the FICA Agency for International Cooperation and Oxfam NOVIB (Netherlands).

8. What is 4C standard coffee?

4C standard coffee refers to the coffee originating from the certified 4C unit and a member of the 4C coffee chain association that trades along the 4C coffee chain. Members of the 4C Association are part of the 4C system, which maintains the identity of the 4C standard along the supply chain and requires traceability of coffee. There are independent inspectors to check the sustainability standards of 4C units. The number of 4C standard coffees committed to purchase by 4C trade and industry members is increasing.

9. Does the 4C Association offer a minimum / fixed price to growers?

The operation of 4C system is the regular supply and market demand mechanism. There is no fixed premium or coffee verifies the fixed price offered by 4C units. However, 4C standard coffee is not just "arbitrary coffee", it has a derivative added value, in fact, the production, processing and trading application of basic sustainability standards. Buyers recognize the added value of this and suppliers have a better platform to negotiate the price of 4C standard coffee. In addition, the sustainable development approach of the 4C Association can help growers make better use of agricultural, processing and management operations, increase production, improve quality and reduce costs, and help growers achieve higher incomes.

Is there a label on the 10, 4C coffee package?

No, 4C Association does not use product labels because 4C coffee chains are "certified". As a basic standard, the main concept of 4C is the process of improvement. That is why independent third-party verification procedures have been adopted in 4C to ensure that improvements in implementation and mechanisms by its members are in line with and reach the basic level of sustainable development.