Royal FloraHolland (RFH) reports that 76% of its product revenues are currently fully certified according to FSI requirements, and this share continues to rise each week. Audit applications are increasing, and more than 350 small-scale growers have already applied through the special certification schedule. Trading parties—including FSI Accelerators Trade, Dutch Flower Group, FM Group, Van der Plas Group, and Royal Lemkes—are also purchasing more in line with FSI requirements, averaging 82%. The Vereniging van Groothandelsbedrijven (VGB) supports this shift and is actively encouraging more trading companies to buy certified products. Despite this positive momentum, the rapid growth in certification applications and the time needed for growers to complete the process remain challenging. Certified supply is also not yet high enough to allow fully certified purchasing by the trade. To give growers the necessary time to finish their certification processes within the defined timelines, RFH is postponing the enforcement date by one quarter. The original certification timeline, however, remains unchanged.
According to the auction, certification plays an important role in improving transparency around sustainability, and demand for this transparency continues to grow among government, retail, media, and consumers. The surge in certification applications and the steps required to complete them mean that, even with expanded efforts by audit bodies, some growers struggle to schedule audits on time. At the same time, the current availability of certified product is not yet sufficient for the trade to purchase fully certified goods by January 1, 2026, as originally planned. To maintain momentum and support the sector-wide push toward higher certification levels, RFH has decided to shift the enforcement date by one quarter. This adjustment gives growers more time to finalize their certifications and supports collective progress toward the long-term goal of 100% certification.
Under this update, the established certification timeline remains in effect, but growers who must be certified by January 1, 2026, will see enforcement postponed by one quarter. For this group, the certification obligation still begins on January 1, 2026, but the start of the levy—a key enforcement measure—moves to July 1, 2026. The levy will double on October 1, 2026, followed by additional economic sanctions on January 1, 2027. As a result, all members and non-member suppliers may continue trading via the RFH platform after January 1, 2026, with the certification obligation in place but enforcement deferred. The sustainability regulations will soon be updated to reflect these changes in the "enforcement and compliance" section. The exit scheme remains fully active, and the timeline for the Auction Focus group is unchanged, with an effective date of July 1, 2027. Meanwhile, sector partners continue working together to promote certification and monitor audit capacity. Two certification schedules for small-scale growers are now available: FloriCompact (Agraya/GLOBALG.A.P.) and MPS-Compact (MPS).
For trading parties, the RFH platform provides clear, immediate insight into whether a grower meets FSI requirements, either through the FSI logo on the RFH clocks or through filter options in Floriday. RFH, VGB, and trading companies will continue collaborating to encourage remaining growers to complete or begin certification, increase the share of certified purchases by trading companies, and motivate KOA buyers—who rely on trading companies for logistics—to source exclusively from certified growers as soon as possible.
"Overall, the sector is making strong progress toward full certification. The focus now is on completing ongoing certification processes, accelerating new applications, expanding certified supply, increasing certified purchasing by trading companies and KOA buyers, and providing coordinated support to both growers and the trade during this transition."
