Impact assessment of sustainability initiative in garden retail sector

The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) has examined the effects of a sustainability initiative in the garden retail sector. ACM concludes that the collaboration helps towards compliance with the sustainability rules.

In 2022, garden centers made arrangements about curtailing the use of illegal pesticides in the floricultural sector. They do so by collectively barring temporarily any plants and growers that repeatedly use illegal substances. In 2022, ACM concluded that this collaboration was allowed within the competition rules. In order to measure the effect of these kinds of sustainability agreements, ACM conducted an impact assessment.

ACM finds it important to improve its oversight continuously and to be accountable for the spending of public funds and for its actions. With those goals in mind, ACM regularly studies the impact of its own work, such as in this impact assessment.

Making the floricultural sector more sustainable

In the impact assessment, ACM comes to the conclusion that the initiative has indeed been launched. Since 2022, it has occurred six times that a grower has been confronted by a garden center or by the Dutch Garden Retail Sector on suspicions of use of an illegal pesticide. Whether the collaboration has resulted in a reduced use of illegal pesticides in floriculture is difficult to definitively determine at this time.

In any case, this collaboration is seen, by the organizations that ACM interviewed as part of this impact assessment, as a step in the right direction towards making the floricultural sector more sustainable. To ACM, the fact that the initiative is being used is a sign that the collaboration has a positive effect on competition, as it prevents illicit competition (where, due to the use of illegal pesticides, some growers may be able to produce more easily and cheaply than other growers).

ACM also concludes that the initiative does not stand in the way of further sustainability efforts in the floriculture sector. For example, participating garden centers are free to take more far-reaching sustainability measures, and some garden centers indeed do so. Furthermore, there are no indications that the initiative has led to negative effects on competition such as higher sales prices of plants. Finally, ACM concludes from the interviews that arrangements between businesses regarding compliance with statutory laws are perceived as useful. Even if something is already prohibited and public oversight exists, an agreement between private parties aimed at complying with the law can be a valuable addition.

See also

• Collaboration check (in Dutch)
• Arrangements between businesses regarding sustainability (in Dutch)