Implementing EMAS
In most cases, organizations get an ISO 14001 certificate first. Then they take the following steps:
- The EMAS regulation provides a more detailed specification for a number of elements of the environmental management system (such as compliance with legislation and regulations, continual improvement, employee involvement, communication). If the organization follows SCCM’s ISO 14001 certification scheme, these elements are satisfied as a rule. However, it is worthwhile to verify this beforehand.
- Drawing up an EMAS environmental statement (the official name for an annual environmental report). One point for attention is the performance indicators which must be reported. The EMAS regulation contains all the requirements the statement must satisfy.
- An accredited EMAS verifier must be used for the evaluation of the management system and environmental statement. The simplest way to do this is to have it done by the certification body which issued the ISO 14001 certificate. You can see a list of accredited verifiers in the Netherlands here. You may also use a verifier who is accredited in another EU member state, but it is important that this verifier informs the Council for Accreditation (CA) in a timely manner that he or he will be performing a verification in the Netherlands. The CA is responsible for EMAS accreditation in the Netherlands and sill supervise both Dutch and non-Dutch verifiers.
A completely new environmental statement must be drawn up every three years. In each of the two intervening years an updated environmental statement is sufficient. Every environmental statement, including the interim statements, must be validated by an EMAS verifier.
The European commission website has information available about implementing EMAS, including the Guideline for selection and the use of environmental performance indicators.
The EMAS regulation contains requirements for the environmental management system and environmental statement. The texts of the EMAS regulation can be downloaded in both Dutch and English from the list of publications on the SCCM website.
Links
- EMAS regulation 25 November 2009
- EMAS regulation 28 August 2017
- Accredited EMAS verifiers