Food services and conference facilities (without accommodation)
To meet our customers' needs in a better way, Nordic Ecolabelling has divided the old criteria document for hotels, restaurants and conferences into two documents:
Food services and conference facilities without accommodation, such as restaurants, canteens, commercial kitchens, cafés, and conference centres are included in this new product group. Catering, take-away and fast-food restaurants can also be certified with the Nordic Swan Ecolabel.
A Nordic Swan Ecolabelled food service and conference facilities must meet strict environmental requirements and take a holistic approach to environmental work related to energy, water, food, waste, chemicals, and procurement. The company must work in a structured and dynamic way to reduce their consumption of resources and to optimize their daily operations with regard to the environment.
The requirements include:
Reducing their environmental footprint by serving more sustainable food. For example, by offering vegetarian food, preferably use locally produced ingredients, and by avoiding endangered fish and seafood species. Palm oil cannot be used in the fryer.
Serving a high proportion of organic food and drink.
Energy and CO2-reducing measures to limit the environmental footprint.
Efficient use of water.
Efficient recycling, to ensure material recycling and a more circular use of resources.
Implementing routines to prevent food waste.
No use of disposable items in daily serving.
Strict environmental requirements for disposable items for catering, take away and fast food.
Limiting harmful and unwanted chemicals by using ecolabelled products for general cleaning, dish washing and laundry.
The use of several ecolabelled products and services.
Training of the employees so that everyone is involved in the environmental work.
Separate fees apply to chains wherein five or more businesses, all sharing identical brand and similar concepts, are licenced with the Nordic Swan Ecolabel on a national level. This requires that the businesses apply for the licences together in a coordinated way, and they must also keep the coordination during the validity period of the licences.
Application fee
The fees below are invoiced when applying for a new licence.
Application for a new licence
1 750 EUR
Fee for the first business in a chain
1 750 EUR
Fee for each additional business part of the chain
750 EUR
The fees below are invoiced when applying for a renewed licence when the requirements have been tightened.
Application for a renewed licence
1 000 EUR
Fee for the first business in a chain
1 000 EUR
Fee for each additional business part of the chain
375 EUR
Annual licence fee
The licence fee for the Nordic Swan Ecolabelled business is based on its turnover.
The fee is 0,1 % of the business's turnover up to 1,8 million EUR.
The fee is 0,03 % of the business's turnover for the amount exceeding 1,8 million EUR.
The minimum fee is 1 000 EUR per year. The maximum fee is 4 000 EUR per year.
For chains, the annual fee is calculated as a fixed rate of 1 200 EUR per business.
Fee for extension / change of licence
Fixed fee that is charged depending on how long the work takes.
0–4 hours
375 EUR
4–8 hours
750 EUR
8 or more hours
1 500 EUR
Fee for on-site inspections
One on-site inspection is included when applying for a new or renewed licence for the first business part of a chain.
Additional on-site inspections are 500 EUR per visit.
Nordic Ecolabelling has no financial profit purpose and is financed through the fees above along with annual government grants. Each national Nordic Ecolabelling organization is however liable for VAT according to article 56 of the Council Directive 2006/112/EC.
Read more about Fee regulations for Nordic Ecolabelling here.
Please contact your national Nordic Ecolabelling office for more information regarding invoicing currency.
When a business applies for a new licence for the first time, no annual licence fee is invoiced the year of approval. When applying for a renewed licence, both the renewal fee and the annual licence fee will be invoiced.