Why might Fairphone have had such limited take-up in the UK

[RSpliet]

@adrian

Possibly a difference in terminology? I think “organic meat” sold in the UK simply means the animal has been fed on organic food. Nothing to do with welfare… that would be more to do with “free range”.

Actually, to bear the label “organic” in all of the EU, animal welfare standards need to be met. See the EU directives if you’re curious about the details. I found not many people in the UK are aware of that.

[adrian]

Ah yes! You’re right.

That’s one area where I think the EU could do a lot better, though - the directives rightly cover antibiotic use, hygiene, tethering etc, but for me, the starting point should be strict free range laws (especially as the UK will automatically try to water down and circumvent those laws ).

[RSpliet]

@adrian

but for me, the starting point should be strict free range laws (especially as the UK will automatically try to water down and circumvent those laws ).

Here’s a more detailed overview of the current set of rules on animal housing conditions to qualify for organic. From the top of my head they’re a lot more strict than for free range. It’s actually quite well documented. Whether the rules are adequate is up for debate, but if standards need to be raised member states should put that on the agenda - potentially after some incentivising by civilians.

[BertG]

As far as I know, the term “organic” or “bio” is not legaly defined / protected / fixed.
It’s just the EU organics label, whose use is limited or regulated by the EU directives.

So, don’t be fooled by the term organic or bio alone.

Edit:
Sorry, I stand corrected by @RSpliet
I really mixed and messed it up.
Just don’t want to delete it, as RSpliet already cited this posting.

[RSpliet]

@BertG

As far as I know, the term “organic” or “bio” is not legaly defined / protected / fixed.

It is, even in the UK! A quote from the Defra:

You’re breaking the law if you call a food product ‘organic’ if it hasn’t been inspected and certified by one of the UK’s 9 organic control bodies (CBs).

Some more info here.

[BertG]

Sorry!
You are right of course.
Regarding food products and farming, bio and organic are in fact legally protect. That*s based on article 23 of the EU Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 you already linked to (indirectly). The terms protected in the member states are listed in the “Annex”.
Really interesting; never read this before.

It’s non food products where no such ruling applies.

[AnotherElk]

For some halfway related intermission or comic relief … https://twitter.com/DRoantree/status/1132943304432201728

[Louisa_Radice]

@Happy_Si

It could be as simple as advertising and availability. As stated above it is only available from the Phone Co-op which is a small company with 30,000 business and private customers in 2015. (Can now be bought direct from Fairphone also).
When I bought mine no one I knew here in the UK had ever heard of Fairphone.

I originally heard about the FP1 via the pages of Positive News, of which I’ve been a subscriber for over two decades. The announcement of the FP2 in 2015 came just when I had finally decided to join the smartphone generation. There were two incidents in particular that year that tipped the balance for me: one, trying to combine a job interview at Reading University with looking up a former colleague on campus; two, the demonstrations following the climate talks in Paris. In both cases my requests to be kept informed by text messaging were ignored; evidently by now I was expected to access email and social media on the go.

At some point in the early 2010s I distinctly remember posting on Facebook that my parents had offered to buy me a smartphone if it would help me with jobhunting; “Would it?” I asked and received an overwhelmingly negative response. How times change.