Eco-Management and Audit Scheme, EMAS

The EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) is a management tool for companies and other organizations to evaluate, report and improve their environmental performance. The scheme has been available for participation by companies since 1995 (Council Regulation (EEC) No 1836/93 of 29 June 1993) and was originally restricted to companies in industrial sectors. 

Since 2001 EMAS has been open to all economic sectors including public and private services (Regulation (EC) No 761/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2001 ). In addition, EMAS was strengthened by the integration of EN/ISO 14001 as the environmental management system required by EMAS; by adopting an attractive EMAS logo to signal EMAS registration to the outside world; and by considering more strongly indirect effects such as those related to financial services or administrative and planning decisions. 

Participation is voluntary and extends to public or private organizations operating in the European Union and the European Economic Area (EEA) — Iceland , Liechtenstein , and Norway. An increasing number of candidate countries are also implementing the scheme in preparation for their accession to the EU.

The main stages of EMAS
To receive EMAS registration an organization must comply with the following steps: 

1.      conduct an environmental review considering all environmental aspects of the organization's activities, products and services, methods to assess these, its legal and regulatory framework and existing environmental management practices and procedures.

2.      in the light of the results of the review, establish an effective environmental management system aimed at achieving the organization's environmental policy defined by the top management. The management system needs to set responsibilities, objectives, means, operational procedures, training needs, monitoring and communication systems.

3.      carry out an environmental audit assessing in particular the management system in place and conformity with the organization's policy and program as well as compliance with relevant environmental regulatory requirements.

4.        provide a statement of its environmental performance which lays down the results achieved against the environmental objectives and the future steps to be undertaken in order to continuously improve the organization's environmental performance.

In March 2001, the Council and the European Parliament adopted the revised EMAS Regulation which strengthens and extends the scope of the scheme. The revision included: 

• the extension of the scope of EMAS to all sectors of economic activity including local authorities; 
• the integration of ISO 14001, thus giving the principle guideline for the environmental management system EMAS, so that progressing from ISO 14001 to EMAS will be smoother and not entail duplication; 
• the adoption of a visible and recognizable EMAS logo to allow registered organizations to publicize their participation in EMAS more effectively; 
• the involvement of employees in the implementation of EMAS; 
• the strengthening of the role of the environmental statement to improve the transparency of communication of environmental performance between registered organizations and their stakeholders and the public; and 
• a more thorough consideration of indirect effects including capital investments, administrative and planning decisions, procurement procedures, choice and composition of services (e.g. catering) 

Printer friendly