Towards sustainable cocoa supply chains: Regulatory options for the EU

12 June 2019

The Fair Trade movement has been working relentlessly to tackle the negative impacts of cocoa production, notably low prices, poverty, child labour, deforestation and illegality. These voluntary efforts have shown some positive impact, but remain too small-scale to bring about the much-needed structural change in the cocoa sector.

Published by the Fair Trade Advocacy Office, Fern and Tropenbos International, this paper by Duncan Brack aims to inform the debate around potential European Union regulation of cocoa and cocoa products entering the EU market. It discusses eight possible options for EU action (and, in principle, by other consumer countries).

This focus on cocoa-specific measures comes in addition and complements much-expected cross-sector EU legislation on Human Rights Due Diligence. We hope that the European Commission uses this analysis to inform its discussions about how to step up EU action on sustainable supply chains.

Click here for the executive summary.

Read the full report here.