Applications were due by 20 April 2018

Thank you to the 18 cities across the EU that applied!

Eighteen cities from all corners of the EU took the opportunity to share their achievements, programmes, and visions for a more fair, ethical, and sustainable trade environment. Each city completed an online profile, completed the 7 guiding questions, and submitted their application with the approval of the city Mayor.

We hope cities continue to champion sustainable trade and look to apply for the next edition of the EU Cities for Fair and Ethical Trade Award, envisaged to take place in 2020.

The project Secretariat is responsible for application dissemination and management in collaboration and coordination with the European Commission and the International Trade Centre.

2018 Application Documents

Rules of Contest

Living Book

Application Form

Mayoral Declaration

ITC Data Protection

Structure of 2018 Application Form

The application consists of seven (7) guiding questions to which the city should respond. The application also calls for an Executive Summary describing the story behind the city’s application as well as a Context summary to describe basic demographics and other relevant considerations.
The application questions can be found within the Rules of Contest document.
As part of the application, cities are required to upload the Mayoral Declaration (available in the Rules of Contest document) signed by the Mayor of the respective municipality. Without this Mayoral declaration, the application is be incomplete.
Cities are free to choose how they would like to answer the application questions. However, applicants can revert to a guidance document (the ‘Living Book’) which explains what is meant by each question and provides examples as to what the applicants can look to describe. Part of the guidance in the ‘Living Book’ includes samples of evidence that the city can provide to support the claims made in their initial responses (such as sustainable procurement guidelines or proof of partnerships with sustainability NGOs, for example). This evidence/documentation is essential to creating a compelling and complete application.
The guidelines (Living Book) is part of the learning process underpinning the Award where each subsequent edition will provide new inputs into this ‘Living Book’. The supporting material can be expanded and detailed as phases progress. This could include presentations, videos, documents, etc.

Webinar: How to Apply!

Language

For the 2018 Award process, English was the preferred application language and cities were encouraged to apply in English in order to ensure the most accurate possible translation of documents. However, there was an option to submit the application in any of the twenty-four (24) official working languages of the EU.