Introduction to EMAS
What is EMAS?
The Eco-Management and Audit Scheme, EMAS, is a voluntary environmental management tool for companies and other organisations to evaluate, report and improve their environmental performance.
Organisations implement an Environmental Management System (EMS): they set up procedures to assess and improve their environmental performance. If they follow the demanding guidelines of the EMAS regulation, they can be EMAS-registered.
EMAS’ strict requirements include:
- Legal compliance with all environmental legislation, checked by a verifier and a public authority
- Continuous improvement of environmental performance
- Verification of the performance by a specifically trained verifier
- Publication of key environmental data in an annual report, the environment statement
The scheme has been operative since April 1995 and has been amended several times (see below).
Check out our Join EMAS section or our presentation of EMAS for organisations if you are interested in becoming EMAS-registered or finding out about the process
The EMAS Regulation 1836/93 was first introduced in July 1993 as an environmental policy tool devised by the European Commission as a step towards the Community’s goal of sustainable development. The EMAS scheme was open for voluntary participation by organisations from April 1995, and its scope restricted participation to sites operating industrial activities.
In 1996, the international environmental management system standard, EN ISO 14001:1996, was recognised as a step towards achieving EMAS.
In 2001, a revised Regulation (EC) No 761/2001 (EMAS II) was adopted.
In 2009, the EMAS Regulation was revised and modified for the second time. Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009 (“EMAS REGULATION”) was published on 22 December 2009. The revised EMAS Regulation came into effect on 11 January 2010.
In 2017, the revisions of the new ISO 14001:2015 standard were integrated into the annexes I to III of the EMAS Regulation. The Regulation itself (the articles) remained unchanged. Having the ISO 14001 requirements within EMAS makes it easy for ISO 14001-certified organisations to upgrade their environmental management system to EMAS.
In 2019, also the Annex IV of the EMAS regulation EU Commission Regulation EU 2018/2026 was amended.
For more information on the history of EMAS and for a summary of the main changes introduced with each revision, please visit the policy section.
You can find a link to download Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009 (EMAS III) and the updated annexes in all Community languages on the policy page.
The EMAS Helpdesk has also published a fact sheet (see below) that summarises the main changes that have been made to the annexes I, II and III.
Since September 2017, organisations that apply for an EMAS registration have had to comply with the revised annexes. Organisations that are already EMAS-registered have been granted a transition period until 14 September 2018. If they had planned to renew their registration before 14 March 2018, they have been able to postpone their audit by 6 months, in agreement with the EMAS verifier and Competent Body. They could also choose to be audited according to the old annexes, and renew their registration according to the new annexes in September 2018.
EMAS-registered organisations need to make only a few adaptations to comply with the new annexes. In addition to the current requirements of EMAS, organisations now have to:
- Determine the organisational context of their environmental management system (EMS). This means that they should identify the internal and external factors that may impact their environmental strategy.
- Identify interested parties (employees, shareholders, suppliers, etc.) and their relevant needs and expectations,
- Consider a life-cycle perspective when assessing the significance of their environmental impacts,
- Determine the risks and opportunities related to their EMS.
These issues need to be considered when the organisation performs its environmental review, that is, when it identifies its current environmental impacts and analyses its practices.
If you are an EMAS registered organisation, you can consult this fact sheet to find out about the main changes included in the Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/1505.
On January 9th 2019, with the entry into force of EU Commission Regulation EU 2018/2026, Annex IV of the EMAS Regulation has been amended. Annex IV regulates the environmental reporting requirements for EMAS-registered organisations.
The key changes are:
- The reference value (figure B) of the core environmental performance indicators can be adapted more flexible to the characteristics of the organisation, which leads to a more realistic description of the environmental performance.
- The reporting of the core indicators needs to cover at least three consecutive years, if data is available, to allow for an assessment of the performance improvement.
- Newly introduced is also the requirement to illustrate the developments of important indirect environmental aspects using the core indicators or other appropriate indicators. To increase transparency, the scope of the indicators needs to be described briefly.
- The reporting on the core indicators has been amended as well, especially in terms of the indicators energy, material, emissions and biodiversity. For example, the core indicator “energy” now distinguishes between consumed and self-produced quantity of renewable energy.
- Environmental statements that contain information about various sites may, in agreement with the competent registration authority, also be published in another EU-language than the official language of the location where the organisation is registered. However, information about a single site has to be available in the official language of the respective country.
- The environmental statement can be integrated into other reporting documents (e.g. sustainability or CSR reports). In doing so, a clear distinction must be made between validated and non-validated information. The environmental statement must be clearly identified, for example by using the EMAS logo.
All these changes intend to facilitate the participation in the scheme and to improve its effectiveness.
- Overview without claim to completeness -
EMAS and additional tools such as the EU Ecolabel and Green Public Procurement (GPP) complement a range of EU and national policies that are aimed at improving sustainable consumption and production.
In 2008, the European Commission presented the Sustainable Consumption and Production and Sustainable Industrial Policy (SCP/SIP) Action Plan, which aimed to improve the environmental performance of products and/or organisations and to increase the demand for more sustainable goods and production technologies. EMAS was identified as a powerful tool to promote resource-efficient and leaner production.
EMAS-registered organisations commit to reduce their environmental impacts, from energy and water consumption to waste production. EMAS is therefore linked to many types of environmental policies:
- Biodiversity
- Energy efficiency
- Hazardous substances
- Climate change mitigation
- Air and water pollution
- Waste management
But also to wider policy areas, which aim to increase the sustainability of organisations:
- Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
- Circular economy
- Eco-design and eco-labelling
- Green Public Procurement
- Sustainable supply chains
- Green finance
By promoting EMAS, the Commission intends to reach the targets of these policies as well.
EMAS has three major positive qualities: it ensures an organisation's performance, credibility and transparency. Compared to other instruments, EMAS includes strict criteria for the legal compliance of the organisation. 70% of verifiers and EMAS-registered organisations agree that EMAS is more effective than ISO 14001 in ensuring legal compliance. It is also the most transparent tool, since organisations are required to publish an annual report on their performance. 72% of verifiers consider EMAS more effective than ISO 14001 in ensuring the trustworthiness and completeness of environmental reports and documentation. In addition to these two features, EMAS’ superior quality rests upon:
- Stricter requirements for the measurement and evaluation of environmental performance against objectives and targets, and for the continuous improvement of that environmental performance;
- Strong employee involvement;
- Registration by a public authority after verification by an accredited/licensed environmental verifier, specifically trained to EMAS.
This means that organisations, but also third parties (the general public, public authorities, etc.), have an interest in using or promoting EMAS.
Join EMAS
How does it work?
Becoming an environmental leader and achieving continuous improvement through EMAS is easy, thanks to ten steps and four key principles: Plan-Do-Check-Act!
Step 1: Get ready for EMAS by gathering useful information from your Competent Body.
If your organisation is interested in registering with EMAS, the first thing to do is to contact your local Competent Body. Your Competent Body is there to help and provide you with customised technical support and funding opportunities made available to your organisation through implementing EMAS. Competent Bodies can also advise you on the best consultant for your organisation.
Step 2: Perform the environmental review of your organisation.
An environmental review is an analysis of the environmental problems caused by an organisation’s activities. The initial environmental review spots the most significant direct and indirect environmental aspects, as well as any impacts of your organisations. This review also establishes benchmarks in order to measure future success in impact reduction. There are five main parts to the environmental review:
- Determine your organisational context: that is, the internal and external issues that might positively or negatively affect your environmental management. It includes the influence of environmental issues such as climate, air quality, water quality, natural resources availability and biodiversity on your future Environmental Management System (EMS). You should also look at external and internal factors such as cultural, social and political circumstances or your organisation’s activities, culture and capabilities (see EMAS Regulation for more examples).
- Determine the interested parties to your EMS (employees, shareholders, suppliers, etc.) as well as their needs and expectations. Your organisation can decide to voluntarily fulfil these needs or expectations. In that case, it will become part of your compliance obligations in your EMS.
- After you have found out who the interested parties are, your organisation should identify its legal environmental requirements and checks its compliance (either independently or with the help of a consultant).
- Your organisation will then have to examine in detail its activities in terms of consumption of raw materials and energy, the production of waste and emissions (direct aspects).
- As a last step, your will look at your organisation's indirect environmental aspects (activities impacting the environment for which you have indirect influence), as well as specify how management routinely deals with them.
An important part of the environmental review is examining these two last elements (direct and indirect environmental aspects) in a life cycle perspective. That means that your organisation should consider all stages of a product or service (from raw material acquisition, purchasing and procurement, design, production, transportation, use, end-of-life treatment and final disposal) when considering its environmental impacts. However, you do not need to carry out a life-cycle analysis (LCA).
If your organisation is part of a sector already listed within the Sectoral Reference Documents, you should take the best environmental management practices and indicators as a source of inspiration.It’s a good idea to consider whether they are applicable to your organisation, as they will likely serve as key models in the improvement of your organisation’s environmental performance.
To sum up an effective environmental review should:
- Identify the “external and internal issues” that can positively or negatively affect the organisation’s environmental management system
- Determine the needs and expectations of interested parties
- Give a picture of the organisation’s current environmental performance (all existing practices and procedures concerning environmental management)
- Identify direct and indirect environmental aspects and impacts
- Identify applicable legal requirements
- Assess the significance of environmental impacts with a life cycle perspective
- Identify risks and opportunities associated with its environmental management system
Note: Tools have been developed to help EMAS organisations implement EMAS. You can find these tools in the section EMAS Implementation tools of the website. Tool 2 – Environmental aspects and Tool 3 – environmental responsibilities, are particularly useful when performing the environmental review.
Step 3: Structure your Environmental Management System (EMS) by defining an environmental policy and an environmental programme.
An environmental management system is built upon a set of environmental actions and management tools. Those actions depend on each other to achieve a clearly defined goal: improving environmental performance. An EMS establishes a continual cycle of planning, implementing, reviewing and improving the environmental performance of an organisation. In practice, the role of an EMS is to ensure the successful implementation of the environmental policy and programme. As such, an essential part of developing an EMS is to clearly define its scope.
The environmental policy is a public document prepared by your organisation, which describes your commitments to the environment and specifies your organisation's overall intentions and direction in terms of environmental performance. It also provides a framework for setting objectives and targets. An environmental policy should be adopted at the highest managerial level, be revised periodically and specify: compliance with legal requirements and beyond, commitment to continuous improvement in environmental performance and engagement in preventing pollution.
The environmental programme is an action plan that translates your organisation’s environmental policy into specific objectives – overall environmental goals directly arising from environmental policy – and targets – performance requirements that emerge from these objectives). The SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound) criteria can help you formulate these objectives and targets. Your environmental programme should contain concrete measures that designate responsibilities and identify the means to achieve the defined environmental objectives and targets, as well as to meet deadlines. The programme integrates improvements in environmental performance into the day-to-day operations of the organisation – it leads to activities that promote better environmental performance. As such, it can be seen as a driver for continuous improvement. To help you identify relevant environmental aspects, best practices and indicators that should be part of your environmental programme, please refer to the Sectoral Reference Documents, which are available for specific sectors.
As part of EMAS, your organisation’s top management also needs to demonstrate leadership and commitment to the EMS. . For example, the top management has to take accountability for the effectiveness of the environmental management system, ensure that the environmental policy and environmental objectives are established and see that the requirements of the EMS are integrated into the organisation’s business processes.
Note:The tools previously introduced can further help you at this stage. We encourage you to download them from the page EMAS Implementation tools of the website.
Step 4: Implement your Environmental Management System (EMS).
By following the planning steps, you have gained an in-depth view on existing organisational infrastructure, management practices and procedures. Now it's time to take action and implement what you have learned from your environmental review. Here are a few guidelines:
An effective Operational Control is fundamental to identifying and planning of operations associated with significant environmental aspects, as it ensures coherence with your environmental policy and helps achieve your objectives and targets. Accordingly, Operational Control aims to improve daily working procedures or routines in order to address risks and opportunities associated with the organisation’s environmental aspects. Your Operational Control should focus on those risks and opportunities that help your organisation to ensure that its EMS can be effective, to prevent unwanted effects or accidents and to achieve continuous improvement of its environmental performance. These can include activities such as equipment maintenance or working with on-site contractors, suppliers or vendors. Don’t forget to adopt a lifecycle perspective when addressing risks and opportunities and to keep documentation of how you address them.
Note: The tools 3 – Environmental Responsibilities and 4-Environmental Data, available on the page EMAS Implementation tools can help you implement your environment management system.
- You should make sure that the internal structure and processes of your organisation conform to the objectives and targets as declared in your environmental policy. If this is not the case, they should be adapted accordingly.
- An environmental management system may be informal in nature, but it must have a formal structure. Although the top management has to take accountability for the effectiveness of the environmental management system, it must delegate appropriate tasks and responsibilities to individuals. For the system to operate well for all those involved, it is vital to know who does what – how, when and with what authority. These responsibilities must be in writing and formalised. It is also vital that one person is given full charge of the environmental management system. This person should be ultimately responsible for the EMS implementation and should provide feedback on its strengths and weaknesses and coordinate any needed improvements.
- The effectiveness and benefits of your EMS will depend on the initial investments during this critical phase. As such, it is important to develop the staff in terms of competence by disseminating knowledge pertinent to good environmental management performance. In this vein, organisations should tailor training programmes and raise internal awareness to meet specific needs of both the organisation as a whole and individual employees. Involving employees in the different steps of the EMS will motivate them to participate in activities designed to benefit the organisation as a whole.
- A trademark of EMAS is active employee participation. This can be achieved only through an interactive and transparent internal communication, which engages the entire workforce. Your EMS will constantly be evolving in line with your environmental policy – especially as your environmental performance objectives become more ambitious. Therefore, it is imperative to keep written records in order to maintain an accurate overview of your EMS's progress. Furthermore, by creating informative documents for your employees such as operational procedures, work instructions, etc., you can clarify current protocols and procedures, as well as minimize questions.
- Your organisation will also ensure that documented information related to its EMS is properly identified and usable, under the right format, and that it is adequately protected and controlled.
Step 5: Check the effectiveness of your Environmental Management System through an internal environmental audit.
Once your management system has been implemented and is operational, you will need to monitor your performance of procedures and practices in terms of environmental aspects.
Establish a management control panel with environmental performance indicators, as well as the follow up of your environmental programme. These indicators are vital for navigating, managing and communicating environmental performance, as they provide information and guidance for continuous improvement. They improve clarity, transparency make information easily comparable. Continuous monitoring and measuring is essential for providing relevant data at the request of public authorities, as well as controlling the use of resources and charting long term environmental performance.
Things do not always run to plan, and environmental management systems are no different. They take time to run smoothly, which means corrective actions should be anticipated. Being prepared to react quickly and adequately helps moderate negative effects and prevent problems from occurring further, and ensures that your organisation finds itself quickly back on track.
Carry out an internal environmental audit, consisting of a periodic assessment of how well the EMS is functioning and how environmental performance is being improved. The audit also checks the compliance of the EMS with the EMAS Regulation. The EMS audit is a systematic, routine and documented process that assesses how the environmental management system is working. The EMS audit can be carried out by your organisation’s staff or with the help of outside experts. Either way, it is essential that the auditors are objective and properly trained. Internal audit results are examined regularly, at least once a year.
To carry out an effective internal audit:
- develop audit procedures and protocols;
- master the overall management of the audit process;
- select and carefully train your auditors;
- collect the appropriate, relevant evidence and analyse its meaning;
- translate your findings into action that will improve performance.
Step 6: Aim for continuous improvement in your environmental performance.
Your organisation's top management should periodically check the consistency of the organisational approach and its capability to meet the goals stated in the policy and the programme known as a management review. EMAS fosters continuous improvement, a process in which mistakes are identified, documented and analysed in order to eliminate their direct and indirect causes. It is considered good practice to carry out your internal audit at the time of the management review.
EMAS fosters continuous improvement, a process in which mistakes are identified, documented and analysed in order to eliminate their direct and indirect causes. Don’t forget to take external and internal issues into consideration, as well as changes in needs and expectations of interested parties, risks and opportunities and adequacy of resources to achieve the outcomes of the EMS.
It is considered a good practice to carry out your internal audit at the time of the management review.
Step 7: Prepare your environmental report.
The environmental report (environmental statement) is your window to the world; as such it should be a clear and concise document that effectively communicates your environmental performance to stakeholders. This environmental report outlines your organisation's achievements in terms of its environmental objectives, detailing both past environmental actions and measures, as well as setting future environmental targets. The report also describes how your organisation has taken into consideration the best practices for environmental management and the indicators, which are listed in the Sectoral Reference Documents relevant to your organisation. (NB: this applies only if the relevant Sectoral Reference Documents have been published and indeed if such best practices for environmental management and indicators are applicable to the significant aspects of your organisation).
Note: The tool 4 – Environmental data, available on the EMAS Implementation tools webpage, was designed to facilitate the preparation of environmental reports for organisations.
Step 8: Get your EMS verified and your environmental report validated.
If you have completed the previous seven steps your organisation has already developed a functioning environmental management system. The next steps will guide your organisation through the verification, validation and registration process to officially become EMAS registered.
The verification of your EMS is carried out by an independent environmental verifier, who is accredited or licensed by an EMAS Accreditation / Licensing Body of a Member State. You can easily obtain information on accredited environmental verifiers by contacting your Competent Body.
The environmental verifier will examine and verify your organisation’s conformity to the EMAS Regulation in terms of your environmental review, environmental policy, compliance to environmental regulations, as well as the environmental management system and internal audit. This verification is carried out by the environmental verifier examining documents, visiting the organisation and interviewing personnel.
The environmental verifier shall also validate the content of your environmental report.
Step 9: Submit your registration.
- Once the EMS and the environmental report (environmental statement) have been formally verified and validated, your organisation should send the following documents to your Competent Body, to apply for registration:
- The declaration signed by the environmental verifier confirming that the verification and validation was carried out in accordance with the EMAS Regulation (Annex VII of the Regulation);
- The completed application form (Annex VI of the Regulation), with information about the organisation, sites and the environmental verifier;
- Validated EMAS environmental statement (electronic or printed version); Evidence of payment of fees, if applicable in your country.
- If all formal criteria have been fulfilled the Competent Body, will register your organisation. Following that, your organisation will be enlisted in the European EMAS register, which will make public your entry into the EMAS community, as well as make your environmental statement easily downloadable.
Step 10: Use EMAS to show your environmental commitment to your customers and suppliers, as well as towards authorities.
Welcome to EMAS!
Your organisation can now use the EMAS logo to promote its registration and show its environmental commitment. The EMAS logo is an attractive visual communication and marketing tool designed to highlight an organisation’s dedication to continually improving its environmental performance. The logo can be obtained from the logo generator. To find out more about the use of the logo, please refer to the guidelines on the logo's use.
After your EMAS registration your Environmental Statement will be publicly available on the EU EMAS register. Your validated environmental report is a great tool to show your customers and suppliers the full extent of your environmental achievements and environmental improvement. Therefore, you should make it visible on your organisation’s website. Also, you can market your activities by selecting highlights from your validated environmental report
You are also encouraged to assess suppliers in terms of EMAS requirements, as well as to give preference to suppliers that are also registered under EMAS.
You are now officially part of the EMAS community. Congratulations!
However, improving your environmental performance significantly is a trial and error process requiring time and commitment. Here are a few reminders:
- You should implement your environmental action plan and continuously monitor results, this requires constantly readapting to overcome non-compliance and to achieve better performance.
- Your environmental report should be published and updated annually, in order to contain the most current information. This report will be validated by the environmental verifier, who will also verify the performance of the environmental management system.
- Your registration is valid for three years. After this time elapses, you will need to apply for a renew registration.
If you are an SME, you can benefit from special advantages geared towards SMEs. For more information, please consult the SME section.
For detailed information on how to register with EMAS, please refer to:
Do you still have questions? You can contact the European EMAS Helpdesk.
European Commission
The role of the European Commission is to facilitate the proper implementation of the EMAS Regulation and to promote the scheme at the EU level.
The European Commission oversees the activities of each Member State with the help of specific mechanisms in place, such as the biannual EMAS Committee Meetings. The EMAS Committee is the Steering Committee of EMAS. Chaired by the European Commission, it represents the Member States and interest groups.
In terms of promotion, the European Commission considers how EMAS can be taken into account in the development of new EU legislation and the revision of existing legislation, in particular in the form of regulatory relief and better regulation. For example, the Circular Economy Package adopted by the European Commission in 2015 recognises EMAS as an instrument that can help speed the transition to a circular economy. Furthermore, the Commission has produced informational materials and has developed several initiatives to recognise and make visible the achievements of EMAS registered organisations: check out the Fact Sheets, the EMAS Awards, #EMASPerformers and the EMAS video.
The Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) develops guidance in the form of Best Environmental Management Practices for specific sectors, collated in so-called Sectoral Reference Documents.
The European Commission is also in charge of making publicly available a database of environmental statements.
In order to help fulfil its obligations and to handle more complex enquiries, the Commission has created the EMAS Helpdesk.
The European Commission reports to the European Parliament and the European Council every five years on the actions and measures taken. You can find all provisions with regard to the role of the European Commission in Articles 42 to 47 of the EMAS Regulation.
Representatives at Member State level: EMAS Committee (based on Article 49 of the EMAS Regulation)
Member State Representatives play a key role in implementing and supporting EMAS at national level.
According to the EMAS Regulation, Member States:
- shall support organisations’ participation in EMAS with measures at national level, such as setting EMAS as a criterion in procurement policies, or providing regulatory relief
- shall ensure assistance in compliance with legal requirements relating to the environment (Art. 32)
- shall undertake information and promotion activities, such as informing the public about EMAS, or collaborating with trade unions and other relevant stakeholders (see Art. 33 to 36 for details)
- may submit a request for recognition of an existing EMS as equivalent to EMAS parts. See regional labels for details.
- shall report about the above mentioned activities to the European Commission via Tour de Table Reports submitted biannually in conjuntion with the EMAS Committee Meetings.
To facilitate the work of the Member States, a Compendium on EMAS Promotion & Policy Support in the Member States was published in 2015.
Existing initiatives in Member States
If you would like to find out more about the activities in your country, please get in touch with your national Competent Body or visit their website.
Should you have difficulty in finding the contact information you need, you can get in touch with the EMAS Helpdesk.
EMAS Helpdesk
The EMAS Helpdesk was created to handle more complex enquiries beyond the scope of the standard information available on this website. It is accessible to all interested parties within and outside the EU and the EEA, such as companies, public authorities, environmental groups, academic researchers, trade unions and the general public. In addition, the Helpdesk supports the effective collection and listing of data concerning all organisations participating in EMAS.
Since 2001, the EMAS Helpdesk has also provided the Commission with support in the promotion of the scheme. This includes the creation of promotional materials such as videos, leaflets and factsheets, and writing and publishing articles on the implementation of EMAS. Finally, the Helpdesk is in charge of designing and maintaining the official EU EMAS website.
We aim to answer all your questions about EMAS directly and quickly, or to direct you to relevant information sources.
For all questions concerning registration, we advise you to contact your national Competent Body directly.
We welcome enquiries, comments and input in English, French or German.
Please click here to contact the EMAS Helpdesk.
The EMAS Helpdesk is operated by adelphi in cooperation with Arctik and 21 Solutions on behalf of the European Commission, DG Environment.
Accreditation & Licensing Bodies
An Accreditation & Licensing Body is an independent, impartial institution or organisation designated nationally by each Member State and is responsible for the accreditation and issuing of licences to and supervision of environmental verifiers. Member States may use their existing National Accreditation and Licensing institutions or designate any other appropriate body to fulfil these tasks. The Accreditation or Licensing Body establishes, revises and updates a list of environmental verifiers and their scope of accreditation (according to NACE codes) in their Member State. Changes to this list have to be communicated to the Competent Body and the Commission.
Environmental Verifiers
After an organisation has conducted an environmental review, set up an environmental policy and programme and carried out an internal audit, an environmental verifier ensures that an organisation seeking registration is in compliance with the requirements of the EMAS Regulation (verification). Environmental verifiers also verify the reliability, credibility and correctness of the data and information in the (updated) environmental statement and other environmental information provided by organisations (validation).
Competent Bodies
Every Member State has designated a Competent Body who is the first point of contact for any organisation interested in registering with EMAS. The Competent Body can provide your organisation with useful information on the steps to implement EMAS and the administrative procedures and fees involved.
A Competent Body is responsible for organising the registration process of sites within their own territory. They collect any payable registration fee and respond to enquiries from registered organisations in their country.
Competent Bodies can choose to offer EMAS Global for organisations with sites located outside of the EU that wish to register with EMAS. For more information on EMAS Global and a list of the Competent Bodies offering this service, please click here.
Consistency of procedures relating to the registration process is ensured by a peer review process of all Competent Bodies, who meet twice a year to exchange information.
You will find the contact details of your Competent Body on the contacts page of this website.
EMAS, ISO 14001 and Regional Labels
Ever wondered what the differences are between EMAS and other labels? What really makes EMAS stand out?
What is more, if you have already obtained a regional label or the international standard ISO 14001, chances are that you are already fulfilling some requirements of EMAS and your registration process could be simpler as a result.
What is EN ISO 14001?
ISO, the International Standards Organisation, has developed a series of standards and guidelines in the environmental field, which are collectively known as the EN ISO 14000 series.
EN ISO 14001 is one of the best-known and most widely implemented environmental standards. It is used worldwide by large and small organisations, and in both the public and private sectors. A revision of the standard took place in 2015. Information about the latest standard, ISO 14001:2015 can be found on the ISO website.
Is EMAS compatible with the international standard EN ISO 14001?
The ISO 14001 standard has been an integral part of EMAS since 2001, and in this way it has allowed many ISO-certified organisations to step up to EMAS through an uncomplicated transition process.
As the ISO 14001 standard was revised in 2015, the European Commission and Member States integrated the new ISO requirements into the Annexes of the EMAS regulation. They were published in August 2017. Changes compared to the previous version are highlighted in this fact sheet.
What are the differences between ISO 14001 and EMAS?
Following the enhancement of ISO 14001, EMAS still encompasses the following unique features:
- A high degree of credibility, thanks to a track record of legal compliance, validated by Competent Bodies
- A commitment to continuous improvement in environmental performance
- Transparency, thanks to compulsory communication through environmental statements
- Employee participation and commitment
ISO 14001 Revision
EMAS is the most credible and robust environmental management tool on the market and goes beyond the requirements of ISO 14001, the international standard for Environmental Management Systems.
Stepping up from ISO 14001 to EMAS
The ISO 14001 standard has been an integral part of EMAS since 2001, and in this way it has allowed many ISO-certified organisations to step up to EMAS through an uncomplicated process.
Some of the main features that distinguish EMAS from ISO 14001 are:
- Boost your external communication strategy by annually publishing an environmental report (called ‘environmental statement’). This report documents your environmental activities and performance and needs to be validated externally
- Find innovative and creative ways to involve your employees
- Commit to continuous improvement of your environmental performance
- Validate your registration with a public authority by applying to your national Competent Body for registration
EMAS and the revised ISO 14001:2015
As the ISO 14001 standard was revised in 2015, the European Commission and Member States worked together to integrate the new ISO requirements into the Annexes of the EMAS regulation. The amended annexes were published in August 2017.
- Following the revisions to ISO 14001, EMAS-registered organisations will need to make a few adaptations. They will need to take into account additional elements as part of the environmental review process and when implementing the EMS. From now on, organisations implementing EMAS also have to:
- determine the organisational context of their EMS,
- identify interested parties and their relevant needs and expectations,
- consider a life-cycle perspective when assessing the significance of their environmental aspects and
- determine the risks and opportunities related to their EMS.
- Following the enhancement of ISO 14001, EMAS still encompasses the following unique features:
- demonstrated legal compliance signed off by Competent Bodies;
- a direct commitment to continuously improve environmental performance;
- transparency, thanks to compulsory communication through environmental statements;
- employee participation and commitment to continuous improvement.
More information about the revised ISO 14001 standard and how its new elements were integrated into the EMAS Regulation can be found in the Helpdesk’s Factsheet ”The revised Annexes of the EMAS Regulation”.
How do I move from other environmental management systems to EMAS?
Ecoprofit, Ecolighthouse, Eco-dynamic label, Green Key, etc. Environmental Management Systems are springing up all over the EU, and many of them are designed to cover specific areas or sectors of activity. Local and regional administrations are using these systems to improve sustainability or environmental performance in their region.
If your organisation is affiliated with a regional label, chances are you have already implemented an Environmental Management System. That means it will be easier for your organisation to step up to EMAS. As it is often the case that there are many similarities between various Environmental Management Systems, it is likely that your organisation has already fulfilled many of EMAS requirements.
According to the EMAS Regulation Art. 45, EMAS recognises existing Environmental Management Systems, which is a measure designed to help organisations avoid multiplying their efforts.
In order to achieve recognition, Member States must submit a written request to the European Commission. In this request, Member States should specify, with evidence, which aspects of their existing Environmental Management Systems they wish to have recognised as equivalent to EMAS. Following that, eligible organisations would need only to complete those additional steps that remain in the process of EMAS registration.
If you wish to find out more about the similarities between your current regional label and EMAS, or to find comprehensive guidelines to support your transition, we encourage you to read the “Step up to EMAS” study.
Audit Cycles
What are the audit cycles for small organisations?
With the revision of EMAS in 2010, environmental audits covering all activities at the organisation concerned now must be conducted within an audit cycle of no longer than three years. However, for small organisations EMAS offers derogations (Art. 7 of EMAS Regulation).
Visit our section on small organisations to find out more.
Is a site visit obligatory as part of the renewal of EMAS registration in intervening years?
Yes. The provisions for site visits as part of the renewal of the EMAS registration can be found in Art. 25(4) in conjunction with Art. 6(2) and Art. 18(7) (all in EMAS Regulation). According to Art. 25(4), site visits are obligatory in intervening years. Derogations apply to small organisations according to Art. 7, and Art. 7(3) in particular.