EMAS
EMAS is a voluntary European Union instrument that helps businesses and organizations of all sizes and industries to continuously improve their environmental performance. (emas website http://www.emas.de/home/)
EMAS is a management system that sets high environmental standards. It exceeds the requirements of ISO 14001. In principle, environmental management systems pursue the goal of "end-of-pipe" procedures, which fundamentally eliminate harmful mechanisms and their effects on the environment.
Environmental management systems provide process mechanisms for evaluating, managing and managing environmental aspects throughout the cycle, from raw material sourcing to manufacturing, use and the required measures at the end of use of a product or service, and environmental performance to improve.
An environmental management system according to the EC regulation 1221: 2009 (EMAS regulation) contains as a management core the ISO 14001 mechanisms. The new ISO 14001: 2015 released in September 2015 has as a major change the new HLS, high level structure, which allows a simpler and consistent combination of other ISO systems. In addition, a life-cycle view of the products and services as well as the explicit responsibility of the management level for the management system have been defined. This has always existed at EMAS.
In particular, the EMAS regulation includes legal regulations on the approval and supervision of environmental verifiers as well as the regulations for publication and registration of organizations seeking EMAS certification. Furthermore, a regulatory inquiry into compliance with legislation as a prerequisite for registration contributes to the particular credibility of EMAS registered companies.
Since an EMAS certification contains all the requirements of ISO 14001, the validation of an environmental verifier and the EMAS registration will also be accompanied by a certificate of conformity with ISO 14001. An environmental verifier is entitled to issue a certificate according to ISO 14001.
Even with the new ISO 14001: 2015, EMAS still surpasses the commercial requirements of ISO 14001: 2015 as state premium version.
EMAS vers ISO 14001:2015
EMAS offers essential added value compared to ISO 14001:2015, such as transparency through environmental reporting in the "public sphere". In particular, the compliance with the relevant legal provisions required by EMAS provides significantly increased legal and liability security for the responsible parties and the stakeholders of the organization. Aspects of sustainability can also be more easily linked to EMAS.
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Advantages of the EMAS Environmental Management System:
- Sustainable stability of operational environmental protection through the binding participation of all employees
- Proof of compliance with laws and regulations, legal compliance by validation of the environmental verifier
- Privileges in approval procedures and savings through benefits on application
- Simplified reporting obligations for BImSchG, accident or WHG facilities (EMAS privilege)
- More intensive involvement of involved operational units, e.g. Environmental cost account UKoRe
- Prevention of operational risks
- Image gain, competitive advantages, sustainable credibility
An EMAS certification includes an ISO 14001 certification. If your company already has ISO 14001 certification, it can be integrated into EMAS certification. However, this does not mean that an accredited verifier will accept third-party ISO 14001 certification without reservation. Environmental verifiers are much more qualified environmental auditors and therefore assess the external ISO 14001 audits and findings of the certification company.
conformity inspection body
conformity assessment body
Environmental Verifying
Accredited European Certification