The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) began a partnership in 2002 to address barriers to organic trade arising from the proliferation of organic standards and technical regulations. From 2002 to 2008 the partnership organized and supported the International Task Force on Harmonization and Equivalence in Organic Agriculture (ITF), which drew together participants from 28 governments, seven intergovernmental organizations and more than 25 civil society/private sector organizations to assess the situation and explore solutions to the problem. By the end of 2008, the ITF issued a set of recommendations for harmonization, equivalence and other forms of cooperation to reduce the barriers and create clearer pathways for organic trade. ITF also produced two practical tools to facilitate equivalence assessments. The Guide for Assessing Equivalence of Organic Standards and Technical Regulations (EquiTool) facilitates equivalence assessments of organic production and processing standards. The International Requirements for Organic Certification Bodies (IROCB) facilitates assessments of the equivalence of good-practice requirements for organic certification bodies.