Amendment of the European Community Eco-Audit Scheme (EMAS II)
In accordance with Art. 20 of the EC EMAS-Regulation (Regulation [EEC] 1836/93 - EMAS) previous experiences with this scheme need to be assessed. In March/April 2001, the amended Regulation (Regulation [EC] 761/2001 - EMAS II) will enter into force.
EMAS II is substantially clearer in structure when compared to the previous regulation. Many aspects and requirements of the new regulation are now explicitly defined. The substantive differences between EMAS and EMAS II are outlined in a table.
The regulation (EC) 761/2001 can be downloaded here.
According to the EMAS Regulation (see point 18 of the Preamble):
"The commission should […] establish guidelines in partnership with EMAS interested
parties for the purpose of ensuring consistent implementation of the EMAS requirements
across Member States. In drafting such guidelines, the Commission should take
account of Community policy on the environment and in particular Community legislation
as well as international commitments where relevant."
In order to guarantee a uniform application of the EMAS-regulation the commission
adopted guidelines on September, 7th 2001, published as appendixes of the Decision
and Recommendation of the Commission respectively in the Official Journal of the
EC on September, 17th 2001. The guidelines are as follows:
- Commission Decision of 7 September 2001 on guidance for the implementation
of Regulation (EC) No 761/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council allowing
voluntary participation by organisations in a Community eco-management and audit
scheme (EMAS).
The Commission
Decision (2001/681/EC) can be downloaded here. - Commission Recommendation
of 7 September 2001 on guidance for the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 761/2001
of the European Parliament and of the Council allowing voluntary participation
by organisations in a Community eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS).
The Commission
Recommendation (2001/680/EC) can be downloaded here.
Information on the new ISO 9000:2000
Finally, on Dec. 15, 2000, the new standards ISO 9000 ff. were disclosed. The past series of ISO 9000 ff. rules, dating from the year 1994, have been replaced by a completely new set of rules, aimed at:
- simplifying the family of standards; from now on, only:
- ISO 9000 (general principles and terminology)
- ISO 9001 (requirements, i.e. only one statement standard and thus no need for the past standards ISO 9002 and ISO 9003)
- ISO 9004 (guidelines for increased efficiency)
- achieving consistency with ISO 9004,
- achieving better compatibility with the ISO 14001 standard for environmental management systems,
- facilitating the application of the standard by all industries and on all types of products and services,
- facilitating application for small enterprises and
- strengthening customer orientation.
Businesses and enterprises which have installed a quality management system in accordance with the old ISO standards 9001/2/3, it appears advisable to introduce the new standard as soon as possible. It is application-friendlier and addresses enterprise processes, i.e. the new standard is more suited to practical application than the previous ones. If you require support in applying the new standards, we can offer inhouse training courses.