The brand Fair&Precious is celebrating its third anniversary and keeps on developing!

30.10.2020

All ATIBT members, regardless of their status, are reminded that they can become partners of the brand simply as members of the Association.
Created in November 2017 at the initiative of the International Tropical Timber Technical Association (ATIBT), and with the support of AFD and KfW, Fair&Precious is a collective and collaborative brand. Its aim: to promote the development of a sector that is not only legal, but also ethical and sustainable, to ensure the socio-economic valorization of tropical forests through the promotion of FSC and PAFC-PEFC certifications.

Fair&Precious' commitments guarantee the quality of the wood, from production to the final consumer: partner forest managers respect strict standards in order to preserve ecosystems, as the brand's ultimate objective is to lead the consumer towards a responsible and ecological material.

The 10 Fair&Precious commitments can be found on the website www.fair-and-precious.org.

In addition to the website, the marketing program is available on the social networks Instagram and LinkedIn, through press relations (France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands) and through numerous partnerships and events.

The brand currently includes 5 certified operators (producers of certified wood in the Congo Basin: Pallisco CIFM, Rougier Gabon, CEB-Precious Woods, CIB Olam and Interholco) and about 20 partners of the brand from different sectors of activity.

Each ATIBT member can become a Fair&Precious partner as it meets the following conditions set out in the ATIBT's bylaws:

For the actors in the timber industry (importers, traders, manufacturers, distributors...):
- To have a chain of custody from the forest to the finished product, in order to guarantee the follow-up of certified materials,
- To look for certified products from sustainably managed forests,
- To ensure that certified timber suppliers have valid FSC and/or PEFC certificates and that the commercial documents associated with the certified materials specify that they are so certified,
- To promote FSC or PEFC-PAFC certification in their communications.
  - For European importers: comply with the obligations of the EU Timber Regulation,
  - For non-European importers: respect the chain of custody for the legality of their purchases that they have previously set up,
- For professional associations, NGOs, and other organizations, as well as individual members:
  - To promote sustainable forest management and the purchase of FSC and PEFC-PAFC wood.
  - To support anti-corruption measures and the fight against illegal timber trade.

As a member of the Association, the Fair&Pecious partner does not pay an additional fee to its annual membership fee. As a reminder, membership fees enable ATIBT to finance the implementation of numerous projects for the ecological and ethical development of the tropical timber sector.

When a member becomes a partner of Fair&Precious, promotional and visibility actions are naturally expected between the partner and the brand.

Over the past three years, Fair&Precious has grown in strength and scope as institutional, commercial, technical and scientific partnerships have been forged. The first partners include 11 companies importing tropical timber, mainly from Europe. The interaction between these partner companies and the brand is an advantage for all stakeholders: the companies help Fair&Precious to gain visibility by highlighting its actions on their websites, in their brochures and in their commercial contacts; on the other hand, Fair&Precious promotes its partners on its website but also on social networks, in its published articles and through the brand's and ATIBT newsletters. In addition, these partnerships enable to amplify the communication of the partner companies and the brand: messages aimed at consumers, forest managers or public decision-makers can be relayed, bringing together the efforts of all actors involved in improving the management of forest resources.

Specifically, here are some examples of expected interactions:

Presentation of the company as an official Fair&Precious partner on the brand's website as well as in the ATIBT members' directory / Presentation of Fair&Precious on the partners' website.
An article in the ATIBT newsletter welcoming new partners / If partners send newsletters, an article on Fair&Precious can give visibility to the brand.
Fair&Precious promotes its partners through social networks (Instagram and Linkedin) / Partners promote Fair&Precious' commitments to sustainable forest management on the social networks they use.
During specific events initiated by Fair&Precious (seminars, anniversaries, etc.), partners are of course invited to participate.
Partners representing several actors of the tropical timber sector (professional federations) contribute to the communication of the brand by relaying information and messages to their members.
Partners are entitled to use the Fair&Precious brand name.

It is by combining our efforts to combat illegal logging, biodiversity loss and global warming that we will make them effective. This is why the Fair&Precious team is convinced of the need for partnerships in order to take the most concrete and effective action to improve the tropical timber sector.