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For a civilian economy free of violence.
Companies highlight their environmental and social commitments, but a massive blind spot remains: the indirect contribution to armed conflicts.
Today, a company can claim to be "ethical" while providing logistics, IT, or financial services to armies at war. No current standard allows for the verification of this "non-participation."
Peaceful Commerce is the first certification label showing that a company does not want to profit from violence.
Our goal is to rid civilian commerce of military influence by making visible, verifiable, and progressively "standard" the commitment of companies not to supply goods or services to armed groups.
Historically, global efforts have focused on stopping money from flowing into armed conflicts (e.g., anti-money laundering, sanctions). But money is fungible, and states can simply print more. Peaceful Commerce flips the script: we do not care about the money. We care about the physical resources. If an armed group has billions of dollars but cannot buy a single screw, IT system, or logistical service, they cannot wage war.
By implementing strict downstream restrictions (who you sell to), Peaceful Commerce ensures that regardless of how much money an armed group or state possesses, the physical pipeline of civilian goods and services is severed.
Any organization, state or non-state, structured and equipped for the use of lethal force for combat, national defense, territorial conquest, or insurgency.
Considered as Armed Groups (non-exhaustive list): Regular armed forces (army, air force, navy), national guards, militias, paramilitary groups, insurgent or terrorist groups, Private Military Companies (mercenaries), national/foreign intelligence agencies (e.g., the CIA), state-sanctioned hacker groups (APT/offensive cyber warfare units), and state propaganda/psychological operations divisions.
No sale of goods or services is authorized to these entities, regardless of the product's nature (lethal or non-lethal).
A group whose exclusive purpose is the enforcement of common law and the protection of citizens, without a mandate for territorial defense or external force projection. To be eligible under this label, five cumulative conditions must be met:
Internal Affairs & Federal Police:
Entities like the FBI are generally allowed. Their role is strictly domestic law enforcement, investigating federal crimes, and policing internal affairs (policing the police). They are not under military command and do not engage in border disputes or national defense against foreign militaries.
In case of doubt, the benefit of the doubt is not granted.
Private Security Companies (PSCs) & Defensive Cybersecurity:
These entities can be sold to, but they must be certified at Level 2 or higher. Given how easily private security or cybersecurity entities can take on a military or offensive role, strict third-party verification is required to ensure they are not acting as proxies for armed groups. Additionally, they must operate exclusively on uncontested and stable land (or waters); any operations in contested zones classify them as de facto military entities.
Open Source vs. Ethical Source Software:
Traditional Open Source Software (under OSI definitions, such as MIT or GPL) is prohibited from certification because these licenses explicitly forbid restricting who can use the software, meaning military use cannot be prevented. However, Ethical Source software (using licenses like the Hippocratic License that allow use restrictions) is authorized provided the license explicitly restricts use by armed groups.
The "Grey Zone" of UN Peacekeeping:
UN peacekeeping forces are currently prohibited as they are militarily structured and equipped. However, they are officially considered a "grey zone" and their status will be subject to review by the future advisory board.
Unforeseen Edge Cases & Right of Refusal:
We reserve the right to refuse certification to entities, or to reject specific edge cases that have not yet been explicitly enumerated here, should they go against the core spirit and mission of this certification.
To help determine if an entity falls under the prohibited or authorized category, consider these four guiding principles.
During an active war, would this entity be actively targeted by an invading enemy force? If the entity would not be considered a strategic military target by an adversary, it is highly likely to be an allowed civil organization.
If the territory were lost to an invading army, could the entity theoretically continue to function as if nothing happened, keeping the exact same personnel to manage everyday civil order? Alternatively, could this entity be transplanted into another nation and still function in its exact same capacity? If both answers are yes, it is likely an authorized civil police force.
If nations and their borders were to disappear globally, would this entity still have a reason to exist? Entities focused on national defense, border security, foreign intelligence, or state-sponsored cyber espionage would become obsolete. Conversely, entities dedicated to local civil order, common law enforcement, and citizen protection would still be necessary. If it would continue to exist, it is likely an authorized civil organization.
Does the entity pledge exclusive loyalty to a specific nation, ideology, or group, and use that identity as a justification to use lethal force or non-kinetic warfare (like cyber attacks or psychological ops) against "others"? Civil police enforce laws universally within their jurisdiction to maintain public order, regardless of nationality. Militaries and armed groups, however, use force and subversion to defend or advance a specific national or ideological identity against external adversaries. If their operations are rooted in exclusive loyalty and identity-based opposition, it is a prohibited entity.
Structured into four levels of requirement. Currently, only Level 1 is available.
An audit conducted by an independent third party. The goal is to validate the reality of the commitment beyond mere words.
The certified company commits to working only with clients who are themselves certified (or commit to becoming so within 3 months).
Depth Gauge System:
If all your clients are Level 3, you achieve Level 3.1. If all clients of your clients are also Level 3, they become 3.1 and you advance to Level 3.2, and so on.
The obligation to demand unlimited downstream compliance. A product sold by a Level 4 company can never reach armed groups, regardless of the distribution chain's length.
Risk-Based Auditing: To prevent companies from using shell corporations or "pass-through" distributors to bypass Level 3 requirements, we employ a dynamic auditing framework. The specific checks deployed are determined by the auditor based on the company's risk profile, jurisdiction, size, and distribution chain complexity.
A parent company, its subsidiaries, and affiliates under common control are treated as a single entity. A company cannot use a subsidiary as a "buffer" to achieve certification. If a controlled subsidiary sells to the military, the entire corporate group is disqualified.
Companies must declare their Ultimate Beneficial Owners. If the UBO of the certified company matches the UBO of the client company, the transaction does not count as a valid "flowdown" step. The audit looks through related companies to the first truly independent buyer.
To qualify as a valid Level 3 client, the purchasing entity must significantly transform the product, integrate it, or consume it internally. If the client acts solely as a paper reseller without altering the product, certification requirements automatically pass through them to the next buyer.
Any company acting as a certified node in a Level 3 distribution chain must prove it is a real, operating business. Criteria include having physical offices, actual employees, and a diverse client base. Shell companies with zero employees are rejected.
If a client derives an overwhelming majority of its revenue from selling your products, or sells exclusively to one downstream buyer, they are flagged as a "captive entity." Auditors will treat them as an extension of the certified company rather than an independent client.
Level 3 cannot be achieved via self-declaration alone. A company must first pass a Level 2 Third-Party Audit. The independent auditor is specifically tasked with sampling the client list to identify and report any obvious shell companies before Level 3 is granted.
To prevent goods from entering the military distribution chain via "disposal" or "scrap," companies must ensure that discarded, decommissioned, or recycled products are verifiably destroyed, rendered unusable for military applications, or processed by certified recycling partners who adhere to the same flowdown requirements.
To maintain the integrity of "Infinite Flowdown," a Level 4 product can only be sold to companies certified at Level 2 or higher (Level 1 self-declarations are not sufficient). Furthermore, the Level 4 status is strictly contagious: any product, service, or system that integrates, utilizes, or otherwise touches a Level 4 product automatically inherits the Level 4 strict flowdown requirements, overriding any lower certification level of the intermediary.
Peaceful Commerce complements existing ethical certifications without replacing them.
While most standards restrict involvement in many controversial industries, they do not exclude profiting from violence (companies can often supply non-lethal goods or services to armed forces while remaining certified).
Peaceful Commerce fills this gap. It is focused on one single metric: ensuring the company does not profit from violence. It makes no claims regarding environmental impact, labor rights, etc. Adopting it alongside your other labels provides a strong indication that your business is both sustainable and decoupled from armed conflict.
Current ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) frameworks focus heavily on the environment and labor rights, but often ignore a company's indirect contribution to armed conflicts. Peaceful Commerce fills this critical gap by providing a verifiable framework for showing that a company does not want to profit from violence.
No. Peaceful Commerce is hyper-focused on a single, critical metric: showing that a company does not want to profit from violence. The standard makes absolutely no claims regarding a company's carbon footprint, environmental impact, labor practices, or other traditional ESG metrics. We strongly encourage companies to pair this certification with other established labels (like B Corp, ISO 14001, or Fairtrade) to ensure a comprehensively ethical business model.
Yes. Unlike traditional regulations that merely manage or restrict dual-use items, Peaceful Commerce takes a radical approach: it strictly prohibits the sale of any goods or services (whether lethal or non-lethal, including raw materials, IT, logistics, catering, etc.) to armed groups. The focus is on the end-user, not just the product.
The standard focuses entirely on the downstream flow of goods and services (who you sell to) rather than the upstream supply chain (who you buy from). This is primarily a matter of feasibility: existing "Know Your Customer" (KYC) laws and standard business practices make it much easier to police the customer side. Conversely, there are no equivalent "Know Your Seller" (KYS) laws, making it incredibly difficult to police the supplier side with the same rigor.
We acknowledge that by not policing the supplier side, we implicitly allow money to flow into armed conflicts (e.g., if a company purchases goods from an entity tied to armed groups). While this is undeniably bad, stopping this financial flow entirely is unfeasible at this stage.
Our primary objective is to cut off the flow of physical resources and services into armed conflicts. The goal is to create a reality where, even if parties in conflict possess abundant monetary resources, it becomes increasingly difficult—and eventually impossible—for them to actually purchase the goods and services they need to wage war.
The levels determine how far down your distribution chain the restriction applies:
Yes, however they can only be certified at Level 4. Because of the extreme risk of their products ending up in armed conflicts, they must prove infinite downstream flowdown to ensure their arms never reach prohibited groups.
No, the certification applies exclusively to moral persons (legal entities, organizations, and businesses), not to physical persons. For example, if you run a Level 4 certified coffee shop and an employee of a defense firm visits informally as a private individual, you can absolutely serve them coffee. However, if the visit is for business purposes—such as an expensed business meeting or an official B2B catering order—you cannot provide your services to them.
Compliance scales with the certification level. It begins with a sworn self-declaration (Level 1) and progresses to rigorous third-party documentary audits (Level 2) and mandatory distribution chain flowdown requirements (Levels 3 and 4) inspired by IT security standards like SOC 2. The "Depth Gauge" in Level 3 further tracks how deeply this commitment penetrates the downstream distribution chain.
No. The ruleset is a living framework. Human ingenuity will inevitably find loopholes or new ways to circumvent the current requirements. As new edge cases arise and the global landscape changes, the standard will continuously evolve and adapt to ensure the core mission remains intact.
Take the first step towards a demilitarized distribution chain by completing the Level 1 Self-Declaration and earning your badge.
Start Your Level 1 Declaration
Building the future of ethical commerce, step by step.
At present, Peaceful Commerce is a label owned and operated by Stefan ANTUN as a sole proprietorship (raison individuelle). For this reason, only Level 1 certification is currently available.
We are actively in the process of creating an advisory board and a formal governing body to oversee the development and rollout of Levels 2, 3, and 4. Interested, competent, and capable individuals who share our vision are warmly invited to apply and help shape the future of this standard.
Founder & Project Lead, Peaceful Commerce
stefan@peacefulcommerce.orgChemin de la Charrue 3
1218 Le Grand-Saconnex, Switzerland