About the SSS

What is the SSS?

The SSS is a tool to gain insight into your own sustainable purchasing. The SSS has been a collaboration between the Dutch Association of Wholesalers in Floricultural Products (VGB in Dutch), Floricode and Floridata since 2017.

The tool compares purchase data with the sustainable requirements of Floriculture Sustainable Initiative (FSI).

At the moment the tool compares and works with the requirements of “FSI2025 Basket of Standards”. The target of the FSI members is to have a share of at least 90% responsible sourced and traded volume in 2025. The five product groups in scope of the FSI are:
– Cut flowers
– Plants
– Cut greens
– Shrubs/Trees
– Vegetables/Fungi Plants

At the Floridata Portal you can login to use the SSS.

Concise explanation of the operation of the SSS:

You can expect the following of the SSS:

Your purchase data will be verified against the requirements of ‘FSI2025 Basket of Standards’.

In the Floridata Portal you can compare your own purchase data of different periods (per month or per year).

The results of the scan are displayed in percentages and volumes, with handy graphics which you can refine by period, grower, country of origin and product group.

Lastly, you can use the ‘Proof of Sustainable Purchase’ (PoSP) to demonstrate your sustainable purchase.

Which parties are involved? And who is responsible?

The SSS has been a collaboration between the Dutch Association of Wholesalers in
Floricultural Products (VGB in Dutch), Floricode and Floridata since 2017.

The Dutch Association of Wholesalers in Floricultural Products (VGB in Dutch) owns the intellectual property of the SSS and it finances the updates of the tool. One of the four most important goals in their long-term strategy is creating one of the ‘most efficient and sustainable national and international supply chains, for flowers and plants’.

Floricode is the desk for registration and coding of floriculture products. They share their product and company coding and ‘register of certificates’ with Floridata for the benefit of the SSS. They receive mutations in the register of certificates directly from the scheme owners.

Floridata is the collective independent knowledge and data platform for the floricultural sector. Floridata facilitates the tool within their portal. As ‘Trusted Third Party’ they ensure a reliable and secure use of the data of their clients. Lastly, Floridata is the helpdesk of the SSS.

The other involved parties are:

The Floriculture Sustainable Initiative (FSI) is responsible for the affiliated certificates in the “FSI2025 Basket of Standards”. FSI is a market-driven initiative that brings together members of the international floriculture sector. The FSI members work together on a more sustainable international floriculture sector in a precompetitive way.
There are 75 FSI members (October 2021). Participants of this collaboration are breeders, growers, wholesalers, retailers, scheme owners, NGO’s, sector of industry organizations and governments.

IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative guides public-private, precompetitive change trajectories in 18 different sectors. IDH supports the FSI.

FSI2025 Basket of Standards

FSI Basket of Standards — *Source: www.fsi2025.com*

In “FSI2025 Basket of Standards” you will find separate certificates, but there are combined certificates as well. Two examples of the combined certificates are Florverde Sustainable Flowers Standard and Kenya Flower Council Silver Standard.

The FSI publishes the current requirements and possible changes on their own website.

Which companies can benefit from the SSS?

The SSS is for FSI-members.
As an End User of the SSS you are an (inter)national trader or a retailer with physical shop(s) (without intervention of a trader).

Are you a Dutch trader? In this case you can use the tool as a participant of Floridata.
Please feel free to read our information at www.floridata.nl and contact us.

What is the annual fee of the SSS?

In the table below you will find the annual fee for your organisation.

The fee applies to each individual End User.
The fee includes a remittance to the VGB for the annual costs of the Floricode subscriptions and the investment made in the SSS.
The amount of the fee varies according to the FSI business category and turnover.

FSI business category	Annual turnover	Annual fee (incl. data reading frequency per quarter)	Annual fee (incl. data reading frequency per month)
non-Dutch trading company	€ 0 – 2.5 m	€ 3,025.-	€ 3,571.-
	€ 2.5 – 50 m	€ 3,288.-	€ 3,834.-
	€ 50+ m	€ 3,550.-	€ 4,096.-
(Inter)national retailer with stores (own purchasing)	n/a	€ 3,288.-	€ 3,834.-

The prices mentioned above are in accordance with the price level of 2023.
The term ‘turnover’ means the total amount of all sales of ornamental plant cultivation products (in the Netherlands and abroad).
End Users will pay their fee annually in advance via a direct debit or on account.
Extra (sub)accounts for purchase insights according to client or internal entities can be arranged on request (the one-off costs are € 200.00 per account and € 16.25 per data reading request). Settlement will take place at the end of a current year.
The amounts exclude VAT.