Certificate in the clock front
Royal FloraHolland wants to be transparent towards the market about how the products we sell are produced. Certificates that confirm sustainable production are how we achieve this.
Starting 19 December 2019, the procedure for showing certificates will change and be simplified. We will now be able to show validated certificate information on the clock and the certification of the grower will be up to date and reliable. Please find all the information that's important to you below.
- Automatic filling majority certificates in EAB as of 19 December 2019
- Automatic filling and validation does not apply to small number of certificates
- K07 and other filled characteristics
- Is an environmental certificate mandatory for all suppliers?
- What can be seen on the clock?
- In which order are certificates shown in the case of insufficient space on the clock?
- Easy to select in supply based on certificates
Automatic filling majority of certificates in EAB as of 19 December 2019
The procedure for awarding a certificate in the EAB will change and be simplified. Until now, we validated and filled in only the certificates MPS A/B/C and GlobalG.A.P. The other certificates were filled in by the growers themselves.
Starting 19 December, the EAB at the clock supply will be automatically filled with the certificates upon arrival of the lot. We fill in this information based on the information we receive through Floricode from the relevant certifying organisation. This will enable us to show validated certificate information on the clock and the certification of the grower will be up to date and reliable.
This table shows you which certificates we validate automatically and under which characteristics.
| Automatically filled in by Royal FloraHolland) | ||
| Characteristic value | Characteristic code | Certificate |
| K08 | 001 | MPS-GAP |
| K16 | 001 | GlobalG.A.P. Flowers & Ornamentals |
| S97 | 004 | MPS-A |
| S97 | 008 | MPS-B |
| S97 | 009 | MPS-C |
| S97 | 030 | MPS-A+ |
| K15 | 001 | MPS-SQ |
| K22 | 001 | KFC Gold |
| K22 | 002 | KFC Silver |
| K27 | 001 | Florverde |
| K29 | 001 | EHPEA Gold |
| K29 | 002 | EHPEA Silver |
| K28 | 001 | ETI |
| K31 | 001 | Rainforest Alliance |
| K17 | 001 | MPS-Quality |
| K17 | 002 | MPS-Qualitree |
| K19 | 003 | GlobalG.A.P. Fruit and Vegetable |
Automatic filling and validation does not apply to a small number of certificates
For a number of certificates, growers themselves fill in this code in the EAB because Floricode doesn't yet receive the certificate information from all the organisations.
This table shows you for which certificates this is the case. For the grower, too, the characteristics you can use for this when filling in.
| Give yourself through EAB (by grower) | ||
| Characteristic value | Characteristic code | Certificate |
| K21 | 001 | PlanetProof |
| K32 | 001 | GRASP |
| K13 | 001 | NewWave |
| K13 | 002 | First Class |
| K13 | 003 | Premium Quality |
| K24 | 001 | MPS-ProductProof |
| K20 | 001 | MPS Florimark Production |
Certificates FairTrade and Bio cannot be shown on the clock or in the supply due to demands from the certified organisations.
K07 and other filled characteristics
Now that we fill in the certificate details in the EAB automatically, the use of the characteristic value K07 is no longer necessary. We will no longer be using this code and are therefore deleting the values filled in. The same applies to other characteristics filled in by Royal FloraHolland. If the grower fills these in the EAB, we validate it and change it if necessary. If you don't fill in anything, then we will do it for you.
Is an environment certificate mandatory for all suppliers?
Royal FloraHolland will require phased environmental registration and certification for all growers (members and non-members) supplying flowers and plants to the marketplace. We will introduce the mandatory environment certificate in three steps. The first step is digital environmental registration for all marketplace suppliers by 31 December 2020 at the latest. Subsequently, after 31 December 2021, having a market-compliant environmental certificate will be made mandatory for all suppliers to Royal FloraHolland. The third step will be to ensure that growers meet all FSI sustainability standards set in the floriculture industry. No date has currently been set for this third step.
It has been arranged with the Members' Council that growers who do not yet register digitally and are not yet certified will be helped with an 'onboarding' programme. We are currently working on this. Reliably showing the environmental certificates on the clock is consistent with this arrangement.
What can be seen on the clock?
For each lot, the clock shows which certificates apply. There is limited space on the clock. For this reason, we show the information in an abbreviated fashion and in rare cases it may be that a grower has more certificates than we are able to show on the clock. For each lot, the clock shows a maximum of ten characteristics. Mandatory characteristics and positive and negative inspection codes take priority and determine how much space is left to show the certificates of the grower/lot. All certificates can always be seen in the supply screens in Basic Auction Room Workspace (BTW) and KOA, and you can filter on them.
What is the order of the certificates when there is insufficient space in the clock front?
In consultation with various customers and growers in our sector, we have identified which certificates are the most important to the market. This has determined the order in which the certificates are shown. You will see the certificate with the highest priority first. If there is insufficient room on the clock to show all the certificates, then the certificate with the lowest priority will not be shown.
Easy selection in supply on the basis of certificates
All valid certificates are always shown in the supply rows with each lot. When going through the supply, you can select based on this and mark the desired lots.
Click on the picture to zoom in to the diagram for better readability
| Characteristic | Description |
| Pot size | 15 cm |
| Minimum Plant height | 50 cm |
| Certificates MPS-GAP | MPS-GAP |
| Certificates MPS Socially Qualified | MPS-SQ |
| Certificates MPS Quality | MPS-Quality |
| MPS certification | MPS-A+ |
You can also filter on the certificate of your choice in KOA, and it is easy to select lots with the certificates you desire. Below, you will see how the filters work:
Click on the picture to zoom in on the diagram for better readability
In the coming months, we will be working on showing certificates in the optimum order through a number of different releases.
