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Standardisation and guarantee systems: what can participatory certification offer?

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  • Sylvaine Lemeilleur

    (UMR MOISA - Marchés, Organisations, Institutions et Stratégies d'Acteurs - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - Montpellier SupAgro - Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques - CIHEAM-IAMM - Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Montpellier - CIHEAM - Centre International de Hautes Études Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier, Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement)

  • Gilles Allaire

    (US ODR - Observatoire des Programmes Communautaires de Développement Rural - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique)

Abstract

The legitimacy of certification for agricultural products depends on the belief that product labelling can provide information and guarantee the quality that consumers want. The neoclassic paradigm actually suggests that the problem of quality is to do with simple asymmetric information between economic agents. In our paper, however, we consider that the notion of quality is by no means objective: practices required (to obtain the given quality) and the credibility and legitimacy of quality control used in the different guarantee systems (to ensure standard compliance), constitute an institutionalised compromising device. This situation results from the balance of power and beliefs that exists between the organisations concerned. In this paper, we compare two different organisational mechanisms when examining the agricultural product standards designed to improve sustainable development: (i) the third party certification (TPC) is a mechanism that most public bodies recognise as being legitimate for the certification of sustainability standards; and (ii) the alternative mechanism of participatory guarantee systems (PGS), which is struggling to gain recognition from public authorities. Finally, we argue that the effectiveness of proximity and social control for guaranteeing sustainability standards in PGS seems just as credible and legitimate as the effectiveness of the independence and neutrality claimed by the TPC in the framework of international standards. In fact, TPC and PGS are alternative and complementary systems, rather than competitive systems, for implementing different sustainability standards.

Suggested Citation

  • Sylvaine Lemeilleur & Gilles Allaire, 2016. "Standardisation and guarantee systems: what can participatory certification offer?," Working Papers hal-01594049, HAL.
  • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01594049
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    voluntary sustainability standards; third party certification; participatory guarantee systems; quality; organic farming; institutional approach; standardization; standard; sustainable development; agriculture biologique; certification; qualité; économie institutionnelle; développement durable; norme; standardisation; approche volontaire;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products

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