Community eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS)

The Community eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS) aims to promote a continuous improvement of the environmental performance of European organisations, together with providing the public and interested parties with information.

ACT

Regulation (EEC) No 761/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2001 allowing voluntary participation by organisations in a Community eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS). [See Amending Acts].

SUMMARY

The objective of the Community eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS) is to promote improvements in the environmental performance of public and private organisations in all sectors of economic activity through:

• the introduction and implementation by organisations of environmental management systems as set out in Annex I to this Regulation;
• objective and periodical assessment of those systems;
• training and active involvement of the staff of such organisations;
• provision of information to the public and the other interested parties.

Any organisation wishing to take part in the scheme must:

• adopt an environment policy setting out the objectives and principles of its environmental measures;
• conduct an environmental review of its activities, products and services (in accordance with Annexes VII and VI), except for organisations which already have a certified, recognised environmental management system;
• introduce an environmental management system (in accordance with Annex I);
• carry out regular environmental audits (in accordance with the requirements set out in Annex II) and make an environmental statement which includes: a description of the organisation, together with its activities, products and services; the organisation's environmental policy and environmental management system; a description of its environmental impact, the aims with regard to the impact; the environmental performance of the organisation and the date of the statement. That statement must be validated by an environmental verifier whose name and number must appear in the statement;
• register the validated statement with the relevant Member State body;
• make the statement available to the public.

Each Member State must establish a system for accrediting independent environmental verifiers and for supervising their activities in accordance with the provisions of Annex V. Those systems must be operational within twelve months following the date of entry into force of this Regulation. Each Member State must designate its relevant body within three months following the entry into force of this Regulation. All the accreditation bodies meet in forum to prepare guidance relating to the accreditation, competences, and supervision of verifiers. A peer review procedure has been introduced to ensure that the accreditation systems meet the requirements of this Regulation .

In order to continue to be registered under the EMAS, an organisation must:

• have the elements required for registration with EMAS verified in a period not exceeding 36 months; the information contained in the statement must be validated at intervals not exceeding 12 months;
• send the validated updates to the relevant body and have these made available to the public.

The organisations taking part in the EMAS scheme are registered by the competent bodies on condition that they:

• have supplied a validated environmental statement to those bodies;
• have paid the registration fees, if necessary;
• have supplied a completed form with the information set out in Annex VIII;
• meet all the requirements laid down in the Regulation.

The competent bodies may suspend or delete an organisation or refuse its registration where the latter fails to meet the requirements of this Regulation.

A register of environmental verifiers and of organisations registered with EMAS will be kept by the Commission and made available to the public.

An EMAS logo has been introduced (see Annex IV). It may be used by organisations on validated information as described in Annex III, on validated environmental statements, on their letterheads, on information advertising their participation in EMAS and in advertisements for their services, products or activities. It may not be used on products or their packaging, or in order to make a comparison with other products.

Member States must examine the scope for taking account of the participation of organisations in the EMAS when checking compliance with environmental legislation in order to avoid any duplication of effort.

The Regulation commits the Member States to encourage the participation of small and medium-sized undertakings in the eco-management and audit scheme.

Member States will promote the EMAS in order to maximise public awareness of the scheme. The Commission will be responsible for promoting the scheme at Community level.

The Member States will be responsible for applying penalties in the event of failure to comply with the Regulation. They may set up a fee system in order to cover the costs arising from the EMAS.

The Commission will review the EMAS and its logo and suggest possible changes no later than five years following the entry into force of the Regulation.

Context

Regulation (EC) n° 761/2001 replaces Council Regulation (EEC) n° 1836/93 of 29 June 1993 allowing voluntary participation by companies in the industrial sector in a Community eco-management and audit scheme. Regulation (EEC) n° 1836/93 is thus repealed.

RELATED ACTS

Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 July 2008 on the voluntary participation by organisations in a Community eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS) [COM (2008) 0402 final – Not published in the Official Journal].

The objective of this Proposal is to strengthen and enhance the effectiveness of the Community eco-management and audit scheme in order to increase the number of organisations applying the scheme, to have EMAS recognised as a benchmark for environmental management schemes and to allow organisations applying other environmental management systems to upgrade their systems to EMAS. This Proposal also aims at encouraging EMAS registered organisations to take environmental considerations into account when selecting their suppliers and service providers.

This Proposal also provides for simplification of administrative procedures. It supplements the eco-management scheme by strengthening the auditing procedure for compliance with legal requirements applicable to the environment, as well as provisions relating to the communication of information concerning environmental performance. The Proposal introduces harmonisation o f rules and procedures for accreditation and authorises the participation of organisations from outside the Community.

Codecision procedure COD/2008/0154

Commission Decision 2007/747/EC of 19 November 2007 on the recognition of certification procedures in accordance with Article 9 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) and repealing Decision 97/264/EC [Official Journal L 303 of 21.11.2007].

Report from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament of 9 November 2004 on incentives for EMAS registered organisations [COM(2004) 745 final – Official Journal C 55 of 4.3.2005].

Almost all the Member States apply measures to ensure greater regulatory flexibility and to encourage organisations to participate in EMAS. Certain Member States have introduced a degree of flexibility in their regulatory systems (either through regulatory relief or through deregulation) with regard to applications for permits, reporting and monitoring requirements and reduced inspections. Promotional incentives have been introduced in the fields of public procurement (such as the introduction of a selection criterion whereby applicants have to prove their technical capacity to deal with environmental issues), financial support (subsidies for new EMAS registrations, tax breaks on purchases designed to improve environmental performance, reduced registration fees, etc.), technical support (phased implementation programmes specially designed for SMEs, etc.) and information support (customised information programmes, information campaigns aimed at specific interest groups and the general public, conferences and workshops, etc).

Recommendation 2003/532/EC [Official Journal L 184 of 23.07.2003] Commission Recommendation of 10 July 2003 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) concerning the selection and use of environmental performance indicators (Text with EEA relevance).

Decision 2001/681/EC [Official Journal L 247 of 17.09.2001] 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 entities referred to in Article 2 of the EMAS Regulation will be registered as organisations under EMAS in accordance with the guidance set out in Annex I to this Decision. The Decision also requires organisations to have the updates of their environmental statement validated in accordance with the guidance set out in Annex II. The EMAS logo will be used in accordance with the guidance set out in Annex III to the Decision.

Recommendation 2001/680/EC [Official Journal L 247 of 17.09.2001] 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).

List of registered sites in Norway in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 761/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2001 ([Official Journal C 45 of 23.02.2006]

The following measures adopted under the old EMAS Council Regulation (EEC) No 1836/93 remain in force:

List [Official Journal C 273 of 25.09.1999] List of accredited environmental verifiers for the purposes of the Community eco-management and audit scheme [Council Regulation (EEC) No 1836/93].

The list contains details of all environmental verifiers whose registration was notified to the Commission by the accreditation systems in the Member States by 31 May 1999.

List [Official Journal C 273 of 25.09.1999] List of sites registered in the European eco-management and audit scheme [Council Regulation (EEC) No 1836/93].

The list contains details of all sites whose registration was notified to the Commission, by the competent bodies or national authorities in the Member States by 31 May 1999.

List [Official Journal C 254 of 12.08.1998] List of environmental verifiers accredited for the Community eco-management and audit scheme [Council Regulation (EEC) No 1836/93].

The list contains information on all the environmental verifiers whose registration was notified to the Commission by the accreditation bodies of the Member States by 31 May 1998.

List [Official Journal C 254 of 12.08.1998] List of sites registered under the Community eco-management and audit scheme [Council Regulation (EEC) No 1836/93].

The list contains useful information on all the sites whose registration was notified to the Commission by the accreditation institutions or national administrations of the Member States by 31 May 1998.

List [Official Journal C 276 of 11.09.1997] List of environmental verifiers accredited for the Community eco-management and audit scheme [Council Regulation (EEC) No 1836/93].

The list contains useful information on all the environmental verifiers whose registration was notified to the Commission by the accreditation institutions of the Member States by 15 April 1997.

List [Official Journal C 276 of 11.9.1997] List of sites registered under the Community eco-management and audit scheme [Council Regulation (EEC) No 1836/93].

The list contains information on all the sites whose registration was notified to the Commission by the competent authorities or national administrations of the Member States by 15 April 1997.

Commission Decisions on the recognition of national standards establishing specifications for environmental management systems, in accordance with Article 12 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1836/93:

Decision 96/149/EC [Official Journal L 34 of 13.2.1996] (Irish standard IS310);

Decision 96/150/EC [Official Journal L 34 of 13.2.1996] (British standard BS7750);

Decision 96/151/EC [Official Journal L 34 of 13.2.1996] (Spanish standard UNE 77-801(2)-94).

Last updated: 11.08.2008