The Nordic Swan Ecolabel offers an effective tool for reducing the environmental and climate footprint of the grocery store. It also actively contributes to several of the UN’s sustainability goals, especially goal 12 on responsible consumption and production.
The requirements include:
- Limit value for sales share of organic food and drink, MSC-labelled fish and ecolabelled goods.
- Offering of food with lower environmental impact, for example locally produced goods.
- Routines to prevent food waste.
- Measures to limit energy use and climate impact.
- Effective waste sorting to reduce the amount of residual waste, as well as ensure the possibility of material recycling and resource utilization.
- Use of ecolabelled goods and services for their own operations.
- Training of employees.
The product group includes stores that have a wide assortment within several product groups and sell a high proportion of daily goods.
Welcome to apply for a Nordic Swan Ecolabel licence!
This is how you do:
- Read the application guide.
- Log in to the Nordic Ecolabelling Portal.
- Start your application.
If this is the first time you are applying, the authorized signatory must fill in your company information and approve the application conditions. In this way, you get login to the portal and the right to assign access to other colleagues.
Some special cases can not be done in the Nordic Ecolabelling Portal. Contact your advisor for such cases. More information can be found on Application step by step.
| Valid from 1/1 2026 | Amount excluding VAT |
| Application fee | |
| Application for a licence | 3 401 EUR |
| Application for renewal | 3 401 EUR |
| Annual licence fee | |
| The licence fee for the Nordic Swan Ecolabelled grocery store is calculated as a fixed fee. | 2 267 EUR per year |
Fee for extension / change of licence
Fixed fee that is charged depending on how long the work takes.
| Up to 4 hours | 424 EUR |
| 4-8 hours | 849 EUR |
| 8 or more hours | 1 699 EUR |
Fee for on-site inspections
One on-site inspection is included when applying for a new or renewed licence.
Additional on-site inspections are 565 EUR per visit.
Fees for chains
The fees below apply to chains wherein several stores are tied to the same licence.
| Application fees | |
| Application for a licence | 3 401 EUR per chain, however not less than 282 EUR per store |
| Application for renewal | 3 401 EUR per chain, however not less than 282 EUR per store |
Annual licence fee
The licence fee for the Nordic Swan Ecolabelled retail chain is based on the number of stores linked to the licence.
| Up to 10 stores | 2 267 EUR per store |
| Store 11–50 | 1 132 EUR per store |
| Store 51–200 | 565 EUR per store |
| Store 201– | 282 EUR per store |
Should the extension regard inspection of one or more stores not already included in the licence, at least 282 EUR per store is charged.
Example: Two stores are added to the chain’s existing licence, and the time spent on handling the case is 14 hours. The licenceholder is charged 1 699 EUR, based on the processing time.
Ten stores are added to the chain’s existing licence, and the time spent on handling the case is 10 hours.The licenceholder is charged 2 834 EUR, since the lowest fee per store is 282 EUR.
Fee for on-site inspections
One on-site inspection is included when applying for a new or renewed licence.
Additional on-site inspections are 565 EUR per visit.
About the fees
For clarification of fees, click here.
Ecolabelling Sweden AB has no financial profit purpose and is financed through the fees above along with an annual government grant. The company is however liable for VAT according to article 56 of the European Council Directive 2006/112/EC.
Invoicing is made in SEK with the exchange rate from the first banking day of the year.
When both the applicant and the manufacturer are micro-enterprises, the application fee is reduced by 50%. A micro-enterprise is in this context defined as an enterprise with less than 10 employees and an annual turnover (of both ecolabelled and not ecolabelled products) below 2 million EUR.
| Valid from 1/1 2025 | Amount excluding VAT |
| Application fee | |
| Application for a licence | 3 348 EUR. |
| Application for renewal | 3 348 EUR |
| Annual licence fee | |
| The licence fee for the Nordic Swan Ecolabelled grocery store is calculated as a fixed fee. | 2 232 EUR per year. |
Fee for extension / change of licence
Fixed fee that is charged depending on how long the work takes.
| Up to 4 hours | 418 EUR |
| 4-8 hours | 836 EUR |
| 8 or more hours | 1 673 EUR |
Fee for on-site inspections
One on-site inspection is included when applying for a new or renewed licence.
Additional on-site inspections are 557 EUR per visit.
Fees for chains
The fees below apply to chains wherein several stores are tied to the same licence.
| Application fees | |
| Application for a licence | 3 348 EUR per chain, however not less than 278 EUR per store |
| Application for renewal | 3 348 EUR per chain, however not less than 278 EUR per store |
Annual licence fee
The licence fee for the Nordic Swan Ecolabelled retail chain is based on the number of stores linked to the licence.
| Up to 10 stores | 2 232 EUR per store |
| Store 11–50 | 1 115 EUR per store |
| Store 51–200 | 557 EUR per store |
| Store 201– | 278 EUR per store |
Should the extension regard inspection of one or more stores not already included in the licence, at least 278 EUR per store is charged.
Example: Two stores are added to the chain’s existing licence, and the time spent on handling the case is 14 hours. The licenceholder is charged 1 673 EUR, based on the processing time.
Ten stores are added to the chain’s existing licence, and the time spent on handling the case is 10 hours.The licenceholder is charged 2 790 EUR, since the lowest fee per store is 278 EUR.
Fee for on-site inspections
One on-site inspection is included when applying for a new or renewed licence.
Additional on-site inspections are 557 EUR per visit.
About the fees
For clarification of fees, click here.
Ecolabelling Sweden AB has no financial profit purpose and is financed through the fees above along with an annual government grant. The company is however liable for VAT according to article 56 of the European Council Directive 2006/112/EC.
Invoicing is made in SEK with the exchange rate from the first banking day of the year.
When both the applicant and the manufacturer are micro-enterprises, the application fee is reduced by 50%. A micro-enterprise is in this context defined as an enterprise with less than 10 employees and an annual turnover (of both ecolabelled and not ecolabelled products) below 2 million EUR.
Information on the latest version of the criteria for grocery stores
Nordic Ecolabelling decided on 20 January 2026 to prolong the validity of the criteria to the 31 August 2028. The new version is called 4.4.
4.2 ⇛ 4.3: Adjustment of criteria
Nordic Ecolabelling decided on January 14, 2025, to adjust the requirement for the proportion of covered refrigerator units. The requirement has been lowered from 100% to 80% covered refrigeration units. The new version is called 4.3.
4.1 ⇛ 4.2: Adjustment of criteria
Nordic Ecolabelling decided on September 24, 2024, to adjust the requirement for sales share organic and MSC labelled for Icelandic stores. The limit value for Icelandic stores has been lowered from 3 % to 2,5 %. The new version is called 4.2.
4.0 ⇛ 4.1: Adjustment of criteria
Nordic Ecolabelling decided on February 6, 2024 to adjust the requirement for sales share organic and MSC labeled for Swedish stores. The limit value for Swedish stores has been lowered from 8 % to 6 %. Furthermore, Nordic Ecolabelling decided on February 13, 2024 to adjust the requirement for energy analysis. As an alternative to standard EN-16247-1, analyzes based on national guidelines are also approved. Analyzes up to five years old are approved instead of up to three years and buildings that are five years or younger are exempt from the requirement until they have passed five years. This version is called 4.1.
4.0: New criteria generation
Version 4.0 of Nordic Ecolabelling’s criteria for grocery store has been published. The new version is valid until 31 August 2027.
Nordiska kriteriegruppen beslutade den 26 november 2024 att förlänga kriterierna med 6 månader. De gäller till och med den 30 juni 2025. Den nya versionen heter 3.6.
3.5 ⇛ 3.6: Prolongation of the validity of the criteria
The criteria have been prolonged with 6 months and are valid to 30 June 2025. The new version is called 3.6.
3.4 ⇛ 3.5: Prolongation of the validity of the criteria
The criteria have been prolonged with 12 months and are valid to 31 December 2024. The new version is called 3.5.
3.3 ⇛ 3.4: Prolongation of the validity of the criteria
The criteria have been prolonged with 18 months and are valid to 31 December 2023. The new version is called 3.4.
3.2 ⇛ 3.3: Prolongation of the validity of the criteria
The criteria have been prolonged with 18 months and are valid to 30 June 2022. The new version is called 3.3.
3.1 ⇛ 3.2: Adjustment and prolongation of the validity of the criteria
Requirement O7 has been changed and in requirement O11 a specification has been added. Furthermore, the criteria have been prolonged with 18 months and are valid to 31 December 2020. The new version is called 3.2.
3.0 ⇛ 3.1: Adjustment of criteria
- Requirement O1 has been changed for retail chains. The sales of groceries must be calculated for the chain as a whole, and not only for the stores that are included in the licence.
- The definition of a retail chain has been changed. It has been decided to remove the minimum limit of five stores for a retail chain.
The new version is called 3.1.
3.0: New criteria generation
Version 3.0 of Nordic Ecolabelling’s criteria for grocery store has been published. The new version is valid until June 30th 2019.