Behind the Scenes of the Quality Labels: Tripartite Regulation and Nested Markets

This paper focuses on the actual conditions of government by tripartite standardization. This form of regulation combining voluntary standards, certification and accreditation is increasingly used in many areas of economic activity. Taking the case of organic farming, for which accredited third-party certification was imposed by the European Union from the 1990s, we show that this form of regulation is in fact based on an overlapping of markets, whose characteristics and effects are explored in this paper. The market for organic products is closely intertwined with three markets in services (the markets for standards, certification, and accreditation), whose competitive dynamics explain the path of Europeanisation and globalization taken by the sector. We also point out the limits of this mode of regulation, in which the regulated pay the regulator and which places the bulk of the cost and the constraints of regulation on farmers. These limits have generated increasing criticism within the organic food movement, with some actors proposing to return to the participatory forms of non-market regulation forged by its early activists.