The new fee annual fee increase will affect all new companies in mature markets under €1 million in revenue submitting their BIA for review for the first time on or after July 1, 2022.

The new Pending B one-time fee applies to all new companies in mature markets seeking Pending B status on or after July 1, 2022.

The new submission fees tiers apply to all new companies in mature markets submitting their BIA for review for the first time on or after July 1, 2022.

Our mature markets include France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland and Sweden. 

If your business is headquartered in Portugal, Poland or any markets in which we do not have a local B Lab team, you will continue paying the previous fees for the next 3 years.

If you submit for certification before July 1st, 2022, thess fee increases will not apply to your company for the next 3 years.

We need to invest in more resources to meet the growing demand. In the past, the certification fees, especially in the lower tiers for very small organizations, have not adequately reflected the cost of the support provided to these businesses through the certification process. In the early days of establishing a community of B Corps, B Lab made a conscious decision to absorb additional costs in order to support the growth of the community. 

B Corp certification is complex, rigorous and thus expensive, but it is the rigour that delivers the credibility, and in turn value for B Corps. So whilst we are working to lower costs and improve efficiency we need to shift pricing closer to true cost.  

Now years later, the B Corp Movement in Europe and globally has grown significantly and the number of companies looking to certify, is fast increasing. It is vital that we resource our verification process to keep abreast of these demands in a sustainable way and invest in continuing to support this powerful movement of businesses whose actions every day are making the systems change we so need possible.

We realize the timing might be difficult for some companies. However, the demand for certification is growing at an exponential rate. The volume of certification demand we have now reached and the strain this is placing on B Lab’s resources mean we need to review our model. We are aware that some B Corps have experienced substantial losses due to the extraordinary conditions of 2020 and beyond. B Lab is exploring potential discounts for specific types of companies to encourage and promote JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) across our community in the future and will notify the community about new developments in this space.

This revenue will support and strengthen the B Corp Movement in a range of ways. B Lab Europe is a partner of the Global B Lab Network, supporting the international movement of B Corps shining a light on a better way to do business. As such, some of this revenue will support B Lab Global’s transformation to meet the needs of this fast growing community, including investing in strengthening the verification team. Over the last year, B Lab hired new analysts to meet the growing demand and strengthen this intensive evaluation and verification process. In Europe, we have hired two new evaluation analysts, bringing on new team members in the early stages of the review process to create high quality submissions for certification.

Working alongside our network of Country Partners, we also want to keep providing community services to B Corps across Europe, the funding of which comes from  certification, the only revenue stream we have.

The fast growing B Corp network has the potential to inspire meaningful systems change across economies. Our pan-European Public Policy group, in partnership with The Good Lobby, engaged more than 100 B Corps in responding to EU regulation of Sustainable Corporate Governance, and underlined the power of B Corps’ collective voice in action. Partnering with the UN Global Compact to engage businesses in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals through the SDG Action Manager tool has already  resulted in more than 5000 goals being set globally. It is vital that we continue to invest in these collective actions and systems change initiatives to multiply the impact of individual B Corps, and realize the potential of business to meet the needs of people and the planet.

This fee is only for companies submitting their BIA for the very first time. It allows B Lab to focus our review processes on companies that are committed to completing the B Corp Certification. It doesn’t apply to existing B Corps and won’t be applied for recertifications. This fee is designed to focus the review processes on companies that are committed to completing the B Corp Certification. This fee is non-refundable and will be charged at the point at which companies submit their first BIA for verification. 

While the introduction of the submission fee last year has allowed B Lab Europe to hire two new Evaluation Analysts, the fee is still not sufficient to meet the increase in demand and cover the costs associated with the evaluation process, especially for larger more complex organizations. Introducing tiers allows us to cover the operational costs required to evaluate companies of different sizes, and ensure we are maintaining a rigorous evaluation process for those companies committed to certify as B Corp.

We are sorry if this fee increase makes it harder for you to consider a B Corp Certification. B Lab has always and remains committed to ensuring free access to all its tools that drive impact performance, so that size is in no way a barrier to creating and improving impact-focused businesses. Small companies are at the core of the B Corp Movement; they are the foundation on which its growth has been built. Many of these B Corps which were ‘Born B’ have now grown ‘B’, and we are incredibly proud of their progress. The independent and rigorous B Corp certification process, from evaluation to verification, is a thorough and resource intensive process for all companies. In the past, the certification and annual fees in the lower tiers for very small organizations have not adequately reflected the cost of the support provided to these businesses through the certification process. In the early days of establishing a community of B Corps the Global B Lab Network made a conscious decision to absorb these additional costs in order to support the growth of the community. 

Now six  years later, the B Corp Movement in Europe and around the world, has seen significant growth and the number of companies looking to certify is fast increasing. At this stage we have reached a volume at which we can no longer scale this subsidization so we need to adapt our model. Last year, we updated the fee structure across all company tiers.

As the community has grown, so has the breadth of support and initiatives we have made available to B Corps; from the SDG Action Manager, to countless opportunities to collaborate and learn from the extensive network of B Corps around the world. To continue to offer this support to the thriving European and global B Corp community, we need to ensure we are on sustainable financial ground. 

Cost of verification isn’t proportional to company size. Especially for small companies, certification fees did not cover our operating costs, therefore we removed the fee tiers for the bottom 4 brackets in order to standardize our minimum annual fees at €2,000. 

The new fee structure was adjusted to be in line with global certification fees, in terms of tiers as well as fee lifts, and to better reflect the real cost of verification. With the new fee structure, we’re ensuring our work in supporting the growing community of B Corps is on sustainable financial ground, so we’re able to continue to support this movement to use business as a force for good. We hope having significant advanced notice will help you plan for this fee increase. 

If you submitted your BIA before July 1st 2022, you will pay at the previous rates. B Lab will retain legacy prices for a minimum of 3 years.

All existing B Corps will retain legacy prices and pay previous rates for a minimum of three years. After 3 years, all B Corps under €1 million in revenue will move to the new minimum pricing of €2000.

B Lab Europe Team and local European teams will be available should you have any enquiries.