[pic] | COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES |

Brussels, 16.7.2008

COM(2008) 402 final

2008/0154 (COD)

Proposal for a

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

on the voluntary participation by organisations in a Community eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS) {SEC(2008) 2121}{SEC(2008) 2122}

(presented by the Commission)

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1. CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL

1.1. Grounds for and objectives of the proposal

The Community Environmental Management and Audit Scheme (hereafter EMAS) was originally established in 1993[1] and was revised in 2001 by Regulation (EC) 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)[2], which is currently in force.

The objective of the proposal is to strengthen the scheme by increasing its efficiency and its attractiveness for organisations with the aim of:

- increasing the number of organisations applying the scheme[3]

- having EMAS recognised as benchmark for environmental management system,

- allowing organisations applying other environmental management systems to upgrade their system to EMAS

- creating an impact beyond the EMAS registered organisations by requiring these organisations to take into account environmental considerations when selecting their suppliers and service providers.

The changes proposed focus on the substance with special attention for the needs of small organisations (SMEs and small public authorities), the institutional set up and the links to other Community policy instruments.

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1.2. General context

Article 15 of the EMAS Regulation obliges the Commission to review the EMAS scheme in the light of the experience gained during its operation and propose appropriate amendments to the European Parliament and the Council.

It is in that context that a large-scale evaluation study of the EMAS scheme was carried out in 2005. This evaluation study, together with input from the various stakeholders in the scheme, identified the strengths and weaknesses of the scheme and proposed options to improve the effectiveness of the Regulation.

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1.3. Existing provisions in the area of the proposal

Regulation (EC) 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).

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1.4. Consistency with the other policies and objectives of the Union

The EMAS revision is part of the package of measures accompanying the Communication on a Sustainable Consumption and Production Action Plan, which is to be adopted in June/July 2008. The Action Plan seeks to substantially change consumers and producers behaviours towards better products, a leaner and cleaner production and a smarter consumption. It will encompass together with the EMAS revision, a revision of the Ecolabel Regulation and a Communication on green Public Procurement.

2. CONSULTATION OF INTERESTED PARTIES AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT

2.1. Consultation of interested parties

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Consultation methods, main sectors targeted and general profile of respondents

The Commission services maintain a continuous dialogue with representatives of the Member States and with the different stakeholders of the EMAS process, in order to follow the practical implementation of the scheme.

The Member States bodies running the EMAS scheme (Competent Bodies, Accreditation Bodies) organised a number of stakeholder meetings and seminars on the future of the scheme and produced recommendations for its revision.

Member States, represented in the Committee established under Article 14 of the EMAS Regulation have been consulted at each stage of the revision process and have provided input into the revision work.[4]

The Commission organised four working group meetings[5] and a revision workshop[6] with selected EMAS experts (EMAS verifiers, consultants, Accreditation Bodies and Competent Bodies).

The Commission visited selected Member States to gather their opinion on the revision of the Regulation, at which occasion Member States and other interested parties put forward their ideas for the future of the scheme.

A large-scale evaluation study on EMAS and Eco-label was carried out, on behalf of DG Environment, by a consortium of consultants ('EVER' study). It examined how European organisations perceive the motives, success factors and benefits in relation to EMAS and it provided recommendations for the revision of the EMAS scheme. The findings were presented, discussed and enriched during two workshops held in September 2005, which involved experts, institutions, companies, practitioners and NGO's.

The REMAS project, a three-year project funded by the EU LIFE Environment Fund, and carried out by the UK Environment Agency, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, the UK Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment and the Environmental Protection Agency in Ireland, was concluded in May 2006. This project determined, through a detailed statistical analysis, the influence of different types of environmental management systems on site environmental management activities, and their subsequent impact on compliance with legislation and performance against best available techniques.

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Summary of responses and how they have been taken into account

The EVER study showed that EMAS is considered as a means to integrate environmental concerns in the organisation's collective value system and improve the corporate image. EMAS is not only perceived as a system to reduce costs from waste disposal, energy consumption etc.; it is also seen as a signal of environmental friendliness.

Environmental improvements, enhanced image and costs reductions are perceived as far the most important benefits from adopting EMAS. Even though almost half of the respondents in the EVER study believed that the monetary costs of EMAS outweighed the benefits, more than two third of the respondents considered EMAS as a success when comparing the financial as well as non-financial benefits and costs.

The REMAS project showed that the adoption of an accredited certified environment management system improves site environmental management activities and that there is evidence that overall environmental management is better under EMAS than under other systems.[7]

On the other hand, the studies showed that EMAS has not reached its full potential in terms of diffusion. The costs of EMAS, the low management commitment and the paperwork/bureaucracy were considered by the respondents in the EVER study as the three most important barriers for adoption of EMAS. Even though EMAS registrations continue to grow steadily (currently over 5,000 organisations are registered in the Community) this still represents only a very small proportion of the number of organisations that could potentially use the scheme.

These conclusions were supported by most consulted stakeholders and were taken into account when the Commission services analysed the options identified for the revision of the scheme, and took a decision on its proposed future direction and on the changes that are needed to the current EMAS Regulation.

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An open consultation was conducted over the Internet from 22/12/2006 to 26/02/2007. The Commission received 214 response(s).

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2.2. Impact assessment

The Commission carried out an impact assessment listed in the Work Programme and considered three main options:

- continuing with the present approach;

- gradually phasing out of the scheme and

- substantially modifying the Regulation.

The option of continuing with the present approach would provide stability. Changes considered could only be of administrative / institutional nature, in order to just make the current scheme run better. This option would, however, only improve slightly the "weak points" of the scheme and will not provide a chance for substantial modifications. Its overall impact will remain low, which will undermine its credibility. The visibility of the scheme will not increase and uneven distribution between the Member States is likely to prevail.

In the option of gradually phasing out the scheme financial and personnel resources would be set free. This option would, however, have negative environmental and economic impacts. The Community would loose a voluntary instrument in its policy mix. The mid-term review of the sixth Community Environment Action Programme[8] assessed the voluntary instruments as having great potential but not being fully developed and called upon the Commission to revise these schemes in order to promote their uptake and reduce administrative burdens in their management.

The option to substantially modify the Regulation would improve the visibility, impact and political profile of the EMAS scheme, which would lead into a significantly wider uptake of the scheme. It would enable the Community to deliver better and more focused environmental benefits, both directly and indirectly. It would also improve the economic situation and reduce the administrative burden of environmental management in participating organisations. Some of the suggested changes require some up-front investment and provision of incentives to EMAS organisations.

Even though it is not possible to predict the exact increase in uptake of the scheme as quantitative data on costs and the impact of the different measures are not available and as a number of options are interrelated or are market-based, the objective is to have, 10 years after the entry into force of this Regulation, a number of registered organisations or sites that equals the number of organisations or sites currently certified under the ISO 14001:2004 standard on environmental management systems (35.000). As an intermediate objective, 5 years after the entry into force of this Regulation, the aim is to reach a number of EMAS registered sites that equals the average of the three Member States with, in 2007, the highest number of registered sites per million of inhabitants, which results in an envisaged total of 23.000 EMAS registered sites.[9]

3. LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE PROPOSAL

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3.1. Summary of the proposed action

The objective is to revise the EMAS scheme, as required by Article 15 of the EMAS Regulation, in order to best encourage continuous improvement in the environmental performance of all organisations.

To achieve this objective, the revision of the EMAS Regulation aims at substantially enhancing the political profile and hence the number of organisations applying the scheme. The fundamental changes proposed will focus on the substance with special attention for the needs of small organisations (SMEs and small public authorities), the institutional set up and the links to other policy instruments in particular Green Public Procurement.

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3.2. Legal basis

The Regulation is motivated by environmental policy considerations as laid down in Article 175 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, which was already the legal basis of Regulation (EC) 761/2001.

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3.3. Subsidiarity and proportionality

The adoption of the scheme at Community level is necessary to create a single credible scheme and avoid the establishment of different national schemes. This Proposal does not alter the current situation with regard to the internal market and continues to respect the principles of subsidiarity by leaving the technical implementation of the Regulation to the Member States through the functioning of the Competent Bodies and Accreditation Bodies. The effectiveness of the scheme in contributing to better environmental performance of organisations is thus ensured whilst the measures that can be adequately performed at national level are left to the Member States.

3.4. Choice of instruments

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The proposed instrument is a regulation as this is the only adequate means for guaranteeing a sufficient degree of harmonisation of rules and procedures for registration, verification and accreditation, which constitute the essential elements of the scheme.

4. BUDGETARY IMPLICATION

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The Community financial contribution is limited in overall terms. Annual Financial resources requested from the Community budget are estimated at around 1.5 M€ per year, covering in particular development of reference documents for specific sectors, peer reviews of Accreditation Bodies and Competent Bodies and information and Communication. Until 2013, these costs will be covered by the LIFE + Financial Instrument[10].

5. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

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5.1. Simplification

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The proposal provides for simplification of legislation by re-writing the text of the current regulation and integrating useful elements of different guidelines.

The proposal provides for simplification of administrative procedures for organisations by, among others:

- stimulating further reduction of the regulatory and administrative burden by introducing elements that create synergies with, and allow for, closer operational links between EMAS and other EU legislation and instruments, thus reducing the administrative burden for EMAS registered organisations by way of regulatory flexibility, including both regulatory relief (substitution of legal requirements without changes in environmental legislation as such) or deregulation (changes in the legislation itself).

- introducing the registration of clusters of organisations and the possibility for corporate registration in addition to the existing registration for individual organisations, which will have a direct cost-saving effect and make participation more attractive.

- inviting Member States to clarify the links and complementarities with other environment management schemes so that registration or participation in national environment management schemes can be taken into account when an organisation applies for registration under EMAS and vice versa.

Thus, the proposal meets the objectives of the Better Regulation initiative, developed in the context of the renewed Lisbon strategy aiming at simplifying and improving existing regulation, to better design new regulation and to reinforce the respect and the effectiveness of the rules while reducing administrative burdens.515

The proposal is included in the Commission's Legislative and Work Programme under the reference 2006/ENV/053 and it delivers the commitment undertaken in the Commission’s Rolling Programme[11]

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5.2. Repeal of existing legislation

The adoption of the proposal will lead to the repeal of existing legislation.

5.3. Review/revision/sunset clause

531

The proposal includes a review clause.

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5.4. European Economic Area

The proposed act concerns an EEA matter and should therefore extend to the European Economic Area.

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5.5. Detailed explanation of the proposal

The operational scheme of EMAS and the general requirements for participation remain essentially the same as under the current Regulation: organisations can participate in EMAS on condition that they develop an environmental policy, carry out an environmental review, establish an environmental management system, carry out an internal environmental audit and develop an environmental statement. Once this environmental statement is verified and validated by an independent environmental verifier, the organisation can apply for registration at a Competent Body. In order to maintain registration, the organisation has to report on a regular basis on its environmental performance improvement and provide evidence that it complies with applicable legal requirements relating to the environment.

The main modifications aim at:

- ensuring that EMAS is a high quality environmental management scheme that guarantees to external stakeholders and national enforcement authorities that EMAS organisations comply with all relevant environmental legislation and continuously improve their environmental performances and

- raising the attractiveness of the scheme for participating organisations, particularly for small organisations (SMEs and small public authorities), by reducing the administrative burden for participating organisations and by increasing the visibility of participation in EMAS.

These modifications are:

- Environmental Management System. EMAS remains to be based on the environmental management system as embodied in the ISO 14001 standard, complemented by the following elements:

- Reinforced compliance mechanism. The EMAS organisation has to demonstrate its compliance with applicable environmental legislation before the first registration. Dialogue between the organisation and the national enforcement authorities is encouraged. The role of verifiers in ensuring that the organisation complies is reinforced. The definition of non-compliance is clarified and the procedures by the competent bodies for registration and de-registration due to non-compliance are harmonised.

- Reinforced environmental reporting. Reporting on environmental performance using the core performance indicators is mandatory for the EMAS registered organisation. These indicators are defined for the following environmental areas: energy efficiency, material and resource efficiency, waste, emissions, and biodiversity/land use.

- Guidance on best practice in environmental management. In order to support a more harmonised implementation of best practice in environmental management, the Commission initiates the process of development of reference documents. These documents cover specific sectors and focus on direct environmental aspects of production operations as well as indirect aspects, e.g. product design, the environmental impact of downstream and upstream activities.The use of reference documents is voluntary but the EMAS organisations are encouraged to use them for setting up their environmental management system and for defining their environmental targets. The verifiers are required to refer to the documents as to the benchmark for effective management system.

- The rules and procedures for accreditation and verification are harmonised and defined with aim to address the uneven implementation in individual Member States that undermines the credibility of the scheme. Regulation (EC) No xxxx/2008 of the European parliament and of the Council of [……………. date] setting out the requirements for accreditation and market surveillance relating to the marketing of products organises accreditation at the national and European levels. It insists on the public authority nature in order for it to be the last level of public authority control, and sets the framework for the recognition of the existing organisation European co-operation for Accreditation (EA) so as to ensure the proper functioning of a rigorous peer evaluation system. This regulation sets the over all framework that completes existing legislation in relation to accreditation. This proposal for a revised EMAS regulation complements these rules in so far as necessary, while taking into account the specificities of the voluntary EMAS scheme and, where appropriate, setting more specific rules.

- Geographical scope. Participation of organisations from outside of the Community is allowed. An outside-Community organisation can register in one of the Member States and its environmental management system has to be verified and validated by a verifier accredited in the Member State where the organisation will apply for registration.

- Measures reducing the administrative burden and creating incentives :

- Simplification of the procedure for cluster registration.

- Reduction of registration fees for small organisations (SMEs and small public authorities).[12]

- The national authorities in Member States are obliged to identify areas where they can reduce administrative burden of EMAS registered organisations related to environmental regulation, e.g. less frequent renewal of environmental permit, etc. A process of regular consultations in Member States between EMAS Competent Bodies and regulatory authorities will be set-up. The Commission organises exchange of information on this issue.

- The national authorities have to consider and, where appropriate and without prejudice to the rules on state aid of the Treaty, introduce incentives from which EMAS registered organisations can benefit, such as access to funding or tax incentives in the framework of schemes supporting environmental performance of industry.

- Rules for the use of EMAS logo are simplified and existing restrictions are removed.

- Promotion activities for EMAS including the EMAS award and information campaigns at Community and national level.

2008/0154 (COD)

Proposal for a

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

on the voluntary participation by organisations in a Community eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 175 (1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission[13],

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee[14],

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions[15],

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty[16],

Whereas:

(1) Article 2 of the Treaty provides that the Community is to have among its tasks the promotion of sustainable growth throughout the Community.

(2) Decision No 1600/2002/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 July 2002 laying down the Sixth Community Environment Action Programme[17] identifies the improvement of collaboration and partnership with enterprises as a strategic approach to meeting environmental objectives. Voluntary commitments are an essential part thereof. Encouraging a wider participation in the Community's eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS) and the development of initiatives to encourage organisations to publish rigorous and independently verified environmental or sustainable development performance reports is regarded as necessary in this context.

(3) The Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the Mid-term review of the Sixth Community Environment Action Programme[18] recognises that there is a need to improve the functioning of the voluntary instruments that have been designed for industry and that these tools have a great potential but have not been fully developed. It calls upon the Commission to revise those instruments in order to promote their participation and reduce the administrative burden in their management.

(4) The objective of EMAS is to promote continual improvements in the environmental performance of organisations by the establishment and implementation of environmental management systems by organisations, the systematic, objective and periodic evaluation of the performance of such systems, the provision of information on environmental performance, an open dialogue with the public and other interested parties and the active involvement of employees in the organisation and appropriate training.

(5) For the purpose of promoting a coherent approach between the legislative instruments developed at Community level in the field of environmental protection, the Commission and the Member States should consider how registration under EMAS may be taken into account in the development of legislation or used as a tool in the enforcement of legislation. They should also, in order to raise the attractiveness of EMAS for organisations, take account of EMAS in their procurement policies and, where appropriate, refer to EMAS or equivalent environmental management systems as contract performance conditions for works and service.

(6) Article 15 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)[19] provides that the Commission is to review EMAS in the light of the experience gained during its operation and propose appropriate amendments to the European Parliament and the Council.

(7) Regulation (EC) No 761/2001 demonstrated its effectiveness in promoting improvements of the environmental performance of organisations and the experience gathered from the implementation of that Regulation should be used to enhance the ability of EMAS to bring about an improvement in the overall environmental performance of organisations.

(8) Organisations should be encouraged to participate in EMAS on a voluntary basis and may gain added value in terms of regulatory control, cost savings and public image.

(9) EMAS should be made available to all organisations, in and outside the Community, whose activities have an environmental impact. EMAS should provide a means for them to manage that impact and to improve their overall environmental performance.

(10) Organisations, notably small organisations should be encouraged to participate in EMAS. Their participation should be promoted by facilitating access to information, to existing support funds and to public institutions and by establishing or promoting technical assistance measures.

(11) Organisations implementing other environmental management systems and wanting to move to EMAS should be able to do so as easily as possible. Links with other environmental management schemes should be considered.

(12) Organisations with sites located in one or more Member States should be able to register all or a number of these sites under one single registration.

(13) The mechanism for establishing an organisation's compliance with all applicable legal requirements relating to the environment should be strengthened in order to enhance the credibility of EMAS and, in particular, to enable Member States to reduce the administrative burden of registered organisations by way of deregulation or regulatory relief.

(14) The implementation process of EMAS should include involvement of employees and workers of the organisation as this increases job satisfaction, as well as knowledge of environmental issues which can be replicated in and outside the work environment.

(15) The EMAS logo should be an attractive communication and marketing tool for organisations, which raises the awareness of customers to EMAS. Rules for the use of the EMAS logo should be simplified by the use of one single logo and existing restrictions should be removed as far as there should be no confusion with environmental product labels.

(16) Costs and fees for registration under EMAS should be reasonable and proportionate to the size of the organisation and the work to be done by the Competent Bodies. Without prejudice to the rules of the Treaty on state aid, exemptions or reductions of fees should be considered for small organisations.

(17) Organisations should produce and make publicly available periodic environmental statements and environmental performance reports providing the public and other interested parties with information on their compliance with applicable legal requirements relating to the environment and their environmental performance.

(18) In order to ensure relevance and comparability of the information, reporting on the progress in the organisations’ environmental performance should be on the basis of generic performance indicators focusing on key environmental areas. This should help organisations compare their performance over different reporting periods.

(19) Reference documents including best environmental management practice and environmental performance indicators for specific sectors should be developed through information exchange and collaboration between Member States. Those documents should help organisations better focus on the most important environmental aspects in a given sector.

(20) Regulation (EC) No xxxx/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of [……………. date] setting out the requirements for accreditation and market surveillance relating to the marketing of products organises accreditation at the national and European levels and sets the over all framework for accreditation. This regulation complements these rules in so far as necessary, while taking into account the specific features of EMAS notably the need to ensure a high credibility towards stakeholders, especially Member State and, where appropriate, setting more specific rules.Those provisions should ensure and steadily improve the competence of environmental verifiers by providing for an independent and neutral accreditation system, training and an appropriate supervision of their activities and thus guarantee the transparency and credibility of organisations participating in EMAS.

(21) Promotion and support activities should be undertaken by both the Member States and the European Commission.

(22) Without prejudice to the rules of the Treaty on state aid, incentives should be given by Member States to registered organisations such as access to funding or tax incentives in the framework of schemes supporting environmental performance of industry.

(23) Member States and Commission should develop and implement specific measures aimed at greater participation in EMAS by organisations, in particular small organisations.

(24) With the aim of ensuring a harmonised application of this Regulation the Commission shall, if appropriate, produce sectoral reference documents in the area covered by this Regulation.

(25) This Regulation should be revised, if appropriate, in the light of experience gained after a certain period of operation.

(26) This Regulation replaces Regulation (EC) No 761/2001 which should therefore be repealed.

(27) Given that useful elements of Recommendation 2001/680/EC of 7 September 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)[20] and of Recommendation 2003/532/EC of 10 July 2003 on guidance in the selection and use of environmental performance indicators in EMAS[21] are included in this Regulation, these acts should no longer be used as they are superseded by this Regulation.

(28) Since the objectives of the proposed action, namely to create a single credible scheme and avoid the establishment of different national schemes, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of scale and effects, be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.

(29) The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission[22].

(30) In particular the Commission should be empowered to establish procedures for the peer evaluation of Competent Bodies, to develop sectoral reference documents, to recognise existing environmental management systems, or parts thereof, as complying with corresponding requirements of this Regulation and to amend Annexes I to VIII. Since those measures are of general scope and are designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, inter alia by supplementing it with new non-essential elements, they must be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 5a of Council Decision 1999/468/EC.

(31) Since a period of time is required to ensure that the framework for the proper functioning of this Regulation is in place, Member States should have a period of six months following the date of entry into force of this Regulation to modify the procedures followed by Accreditation Bodies and Competent Bodies under the corresponding provisions of this Regulation. Within these six months, Accreditation Bodies and Competent Bodies should be entitled to continue to apply the procedures established under Regulation (EC) No 761/2001,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

CHAPTER I

General provisions

Article 1

Subject matter

A Community eco-management and audit scheme, hereafter referred to as ‘EMAS’, is hereby established, allowing voluntary participation by organisations located inside or outside the Community.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation the following definitions shall apply:

1. "environmental policy" means an organisation’s overall aims and principles of action with respect to the environment including compliance with all applicable legal requirements relating to the environment and also a commitment to continual improvement of environmental performance;

2. "environmental performance" means the results of an organisation's management of its environmental aspects;

3. "legal compliance" means full implementation of applicable legal requirements, including permit conditions, relating to the environment;

4. "environmental aspect" means an element of an organisation’s activities, products or services that has or can have an impact on the environment;

5. "significant environmental aspect" means an environmental aspect that has or can have a significant environmental impact;

6. "direct environmental aspect" means an environmental aspect associated with activities, products and services of the organisation itself over which it has direct management control;

7. "indirect environmental aspect" means an environmental aspect which can result from the interaction of an organisation with third parties and which can to a reasonable degree be influenced by an organisation;

8. "environmental impact" means any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organisation’s activities, products or services;

9. "environmental programme" means a description of the measures, responsibilities and means taken or envisaged to achieve environmental objectives and targets and the deadlines for achieving the environmental objectives and targets;

10. "environmental objective" means an overall environmental goal, arising from the environmental policy, that an organisation sets itself, and which is quantified where practicable;

11. "environmental target" means a detailed and quantified performance requirement, arising from the environmental policy and the environmental objectives, applicable to the organisation or parts thereof, and that needs to be set and met in order to achieve those objectives;

12. "environmental management system" means the part of the overall management system that includes the organisational structure, planning activities, responsibilities, practices, procedures, processes and resources for developing, implementing, achieving, reviewing and maintaining the environmental policy;

13. "best environmental management practice" means the most effective environmental management system that can be implemented by organisations in a relevant sector and that can result in best environmental performance under given economic and technical conditions;

14. "internal environmental audit" means a systematic, documented, periodic and objective evaluation of the performance of the organisation, management system and processes designed to protect the environment;

15. "auditor" means an individual or group of individuals, belonging to the organisation itself or a natural or legal person external to the organisation, acting on behalf of the organisation, carrying out an assessment of, in particular, the management system in place and determining conformity with the organisation's policy and programme, including compliance with the applicable legal requirements relating to the organisation;

16. "environmental performance report" means the comprehensive information to the public and other interested parties regarding the organisation's environmental performance and compliance with applicable legal obligations relating to the environment;

17. "environmental statement" means the comprehensive information to the public and other interested parties regarding the organisation's:

(a) structure and activities,

(b) environmental policy and environmental management system,

(c) environmental aspects and impacts,

(d) environmental programme, objectives and targets,

(e) environmental performance report providing information on the organisation's environmental performance and compliance with applicable legal obligations relating to the environment;

18. "environmental verifier" means any natural or legal person, or any association or group of such persons qualifying as a conformity assessment body as defined in Regulation (EC) No xxxx/2008 , who has obtained accreditation, in accordance with this Regulation;

19. "organisation" means a company, corporation, firm, enterprise, authority or institution, located inside or outside the Community, or part or combination thereof, whether incorporated or not, public or private, that has its own functions and administrations;

20. "site" means a distinct geographic location under the management control of an organisation covering activities, products and services, including all infrastructure, equipment and materials;

21. verification" means the conformity assessment process carried out by an environmental verifier to demonstrate that an organisation’s environmental policy, management system and audit procedure fulfils the requirements of this Regulation;

22. "validation" means the confirmation by the environmental verifier who carried out the verification, that the information and data in the organisation’s environmental statement and performance report are reliable, credible and correct and meet the requirements of this Regulation;

23. "enforcement authorities" means the relevant competent authorities as identified by the Member States to detect, prevent and investigate breaches of applicable legal requirements relating to the environment and where required take enforcement action;

24. "environmental performance indicator" means a specific expression that allows measurement of an organisation's environmental performance;

25. "small organisations" means:

(a) micro, small and medium-sized enterprises as defined in the Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC of 6 May 2003 concerning the definition of micro, small and medium sized enterprises[23]

(b) local authorities governing less than 10.000 inhabitants or other public authorities employing fewer than 250 persons and having an annual budget not exceeding EUR 50 million, or an annual balance sheet not exceeding EUR 43 million, including all of the following:

(i) government or other public administrations, public advisory bodies at national, regional or local level;

(ii) natural or legal persons performing public administrative functions under national law, including specific duties, activities or services in relation to the environment; and

(iii) natural or legal persons having public responsibilities or functions, or providing public services, relating to the environment under the control of a body or person referred to in point (b);

26. Accreditation Body means a national accreditation body within the meaning of Regulation (EC) No xxxx/2008.

CHAPTER II

Registration of organisations

Article 3

Determination of the Competent Body

1. Applications for registration from organisations in a Member State shall be made to a Competent Body in that Member State.

2. Applications for registration from organisations outside the Community may be made to any Competent Body in the Member State in which the environmental verifier who carried out the verification and who validated the environmental management system of the organisation is accredited.

3. An organisation with sites located in one or more Member States may apply for one single corporate registration of all or some of these sites.

Applications for a single corporate registration shall be made to a Competent Body of the Member State where the organisation's headquarter or management centre designated for the purpose of this provision is located.

Article 4

Preparation for registration

1. Organisations wishing to be registered for the first time shall carry out an environmental review of all environmental aspects of the organisation in accordance with Annex I.

2. Organisations may consult with the body referred to in Article 33(3) established in the Member State where the organisation applies for registration.

3. Organisations which have a certified environmental management system, recognized according to Article 45(4), shall not be obliged to conduct a full initial environmental review, with regard to information provided by the recognised certified environmental management system.

4. In the light of the results of the review, organisations shall develop and implement an environmental management system covering all the requirements referred to in Annex II, and, where available, taking into account the best environmental management practice for the relevant sector referred to in Article 46.

5. Organisations shall provide material or documentary evidence showing that the organisation complies with all applicable legal requirements relating to the environment that have been identified.

Organisations may request a statement on compliance from the competent enforcement authority or authorities in accordance with Article 33(5).

Organisations outside the Community shall also make reference to the legal requirements relating to the environment applicable to similar organisations in the Member States where they intend to submit an application.

6. Organisations shall carry out an internal audit in accordance with the requirements set out in Annex III.

7. Organisations shall prepare an environmental statement, in accordance with Annex IV Part B.

Where sectoral reference documents as referred to in Article 46 are available for the specific sector, the assessment of the organisation’s performance shall be made with reference to the relevant document.

8. The initial environmental review, the environment management system, the audit procedure and the environmental statement shall be verified by an accredited environmental verifier and the environmental statement shall be validated by that environmental verifier.

Article 5

Application for registration

1. Any organisation meeting requirements set out in Article 4 may apply for registration.

2. The application for registration shall be made to the Competent Body determined in accordance with Article 3 and shall include the following:

(a) the validated environmental statement in electronic format;

(b) the declaration as referred to in Article 24(9), signed by the environmental verifier who validated the environmental statement,:

(c) a completed form, which includes at least the minimum information on as set out in Annex VI;

(d) evidence of payment of applicable fees.

CHAPTER III

Obligations of registered organisations

Article 6

Maintenance of EMAS registration

1. A registered organisation shall on a three-yearly basis:

27. have the full environmental management system and audit programme verified,

28. prepare the environmental statement in accordance with the requirements set out in Annex IV, Parts B and D,

29. have the environmental statement validated,

30. forward the validated environmental statement to the Competent Body,

31. forward to the Competent Body a completed form, which includes at least the minimum information set out in Annex VI.

2. A registered organisation shall, on an annual basis:

32. carry out an internal audit of the environmental performance and the compliance with applicable legal requirements relating to the environment in accordance with Annex III,

33. prepare an environmental performance report in accordance with the requirements laid down in Annex IV Parts C and D,

34. forward the validated environmental performance report to the Competent Body,

35. forward to the Competent Body a completed form, which includes at least the minimum information set out in Annex VI.

3. Registered organisations shall make their environmental statement and environmental performance report accessible to the public within one month of registration and one month after the maintenance of the registration.

They may satisfy that requirement by providing access to the environmental statement upon request or by creating links to Internet sites where the environmental statement can be accessed.

They shall inform the Competent Body of the way they provide public access.

Article 7

Derogation for small organisations

1. Competent Bodies shall, upon request of a small organisation, extend for that organisation, the three-yearly frequency referred to in Article 6(1) up to five years or the annual frequency referred to in Article 6(2) up to two years, provided that all the following conditions are met:

(a) no environmental risks are present,

(b) the organisation has no operational changes planned to its environmental management system, and

(c) there exist no significant local environmental problems.

2. In order to obtain the extension referred to in paragraph 1, the organisation concerned shall submit a request to the Competent Body that has registered the organisation and provide evidence that the conditions for derogation are fulfilled.

3. Organisations benefiting from an extension as referred to in paragraph 1 up to two years shall forward the non-validated environmental performance report to the Competent Body in each year that they are exempt from the obligation to have a validated environmental performance report.

Article 8

Substantial changes

1. In case of substantial changes in a registered organisation, the organisation shall carry out an environmental review of these changes, including their environmental aspects and impacts.

2. The organisation shall update the initial environmental review and modify the environmental policy of the organisation accordingly.

3. The updated environmental review and the modified environmental policy shall be verified and validated.

4. After validation, the organisation shall submit changes to the Competent Body using the form set out in Annex VI and make the changes publicly available.

Article 9

Environmental audit

1. A registered organisation shall establish an audit programme that ensures that over a period of time, not exceeding three years, all activities in the organisation are subject to an audit in accordance with the requirements set out in Annex III.

2. The audit shall be carried out by auditors who possess, individually or collectively, the competence necessary for carrying out these tasks and are sufficiently independent of the activities they audit to make an objective judgment.

3. The organisation’s environmental auditing programme shall define the objectives of each audit or audit cycle including the audit frequency for each activity.

4. A written audit report shall be prepared by the auditors at the end of each audit and audit cycle.

5. The auditor shall communicate the findings and conclusions of the audit to the organisation.

6. Following the audit process, the organisation shall prepare and implement an appropriate action plan.

7. The organisation shall put in place appropriate mechanisms that ensure that the audit results are followed up.

Article 10

Use of the EMAS logo

1. The EMAS logo set out in Annex V may be used only by registered organisations and only as long as their registration is valid.

The logo shall always bear the registration number of the organisation.

2. The EMAS logo may only be used in accordance with the technical specifications set out in Annex V.

3. In case an organisation chooses, in accordance with Article 3(3) not to include all its sites within the Community in the corporate registration, it shall ensure that in its communications with the public and in its use of the EMAS logo, it is clear which sites are covered by the registration.

4. The logo shall not be used in conjunction with comparative claims concerning other activities and services or in a way that may create confusion with environmental product labels.

5. Any environmental information published by a registered organisation may bear the EMAS logo provided makes reference to the organisation's latest environmental statement from which it was drawn and it has been validated by an environmental verifier as being:

(a) accurate,

(b) substantiated and verifiable,

(c) relevant and used in an appropriate context or setting,

(d) representative of the overall environmental performance of the organisation,

(e) unlikely to result in misinterpretation,

(f) significant in relation to the overall environmental impact.

CHAPTER IV

Rules applicable to Competent Bodies

Article 11

Designation and role of Competent Bodies

1. Member States shall designate Competent Bodies, which shall be responsible for the registration of organisations in accordance with this Regulation.

The Competent Bodies shall control the entry and maintenance of organisations on the register.

2. Competent Bodies may be national, regional or local.

3. The composition of the Competent Bodies shall guarantee their independence and neutrality.

4. Competent Bodies shall have the appropriate resources, both financial and in terms of personnel, for the proper performance of their tasks.

5. Competent Bodies shall apply this Regulation in a consistent manner and shall participate in regular peer evaluation as set out in Article 16.

Article 12

Obligations concerning the registration process

1. Competent Bodies shall establish procedures for the registration of organisations. They shall in particular establish rules for:

(a) considering observations from interested parties, including Accreditation Bodies and competent enforcement authorities, concerning applicant or registered organisations,

(b) refusal of registration, suspension or deletion of organisations, and

(c) resolution of appeals and complaints made against their decisions.

2. Competent Bodies shall establish and maintain a register of organisations registered in their Member States, including their environmental statement or environmental performance report in electronic format, and update that register on a monthly basis.

The register shall be publicly available on a website.

3. Competent Bodies shall each month communicate changes in the register referred to in paragraph 2 to the Commission.

Article 13

Registration of organisations

1. Competent Bodies shall consider applications for registration of organisations in accordance with the procedures established to this end.

2. Where an organisation applies for registration, the Competent Body shall register that organisation and give it a registration number if all the following conditions are fulfilled:

(a) the Competent Body has received an application for registration, which includes all the documents referred to in points (a) to (d) of Article 5(2);

(b) the Competent Body has checked that the verification and validation have been carried out in accordance with the obligations set out in Articles 24 tot 27; and

(c) the Competent Body is satisfied on the basis of material evidence received or through a positive report from the competent enforcement authority of the legal compliance of the organisation;

3. Competent Bodies shall inform the organisation that it has been registered.

4. If a Competent Body concludes that an applicant organisation does not comply with the requirements set out in paragraph 2, it shall refuse to register that organisation.

5. If a Competent Body receives a supervision report from the Accreditation Body which provides evidence that the activities of the environmental verifier were not performed adequately enough to ensure that the requirements of this Regulation are met by the applicant organisation, it shall refuse to register that organisation.

6. In order to obtain the necessary evidence for taking a decision on refusal of registration of organisations, the Competent Body shall consult the concerned parties including the organisation.

Article 14

Suspension or deletion of organisations from the register

1. If a Competent Body believes that a registered organisation does not comply with this Regulation, it shall give the organisation the opportunity to submit its views on the matter. Should the organisation fail to provide a satisfactory response it shall be deleted or suspended from the register.

2. If a Competent Body receives a supervision report from the Accreditation Body which provides evidence that the activities of the environmental verifier were not performed adequately enough to ensure that the requirements of this Regulation are met by the EMAS-registered organisation, registration shall be suspended.

3. A registered organisation shall be suspended or deleted from the register, as appropriate, if it fails to submit to a Competent Body, within one month of being required to do so, any of the following:

(a) the validated updates of the environmental statements, the environmental performance report or the signed declaration referred to in Article 24(9);

(b) a form, which includes at least the minimum information set out in Annex VI from the organisation.

4. If a Competent Body is informed by the competent enforcement authority of a breach by the organisation of any applicable legal requirements relating to the environment, it shall suspend or delete that organisation from the register as appropriate.

5. In case a Competent Body decides to suspend or delete a registration it shall take into account at least the following:

(a) the environmental effect of the non-compliance by the organisation with the obligations of this Regulation;

(b) the forseeability of the non-compliance by the organisation with the obligations of this Regulation or the circumstances leading to it;

(c) previous non-compliances with the obligations of this Regulation by the organisation; and

(d) the specific circumstances of the organisation.

6. In order to provide the Competent Body with the necessary evidence for taking its decision, on suspension or deletion of organisations from the register it shall consult the concerned parties including the organisation.

7. Where the Competent Body has received evidence otherwise than through a supervision report of the Accreditation Body, that activities of the environmental verifier were not performed adequately enough to ensure that the requirements of this Regulation are met by the organisation, it shall consult the Accreditation Body supervising the environmental verifier.

8. The Competent Body shall give reasons for any measures taken.

9. The Competent Body shall provide appropriate information to the organisation concerning the consultations with the concerned parties.

10. Suspension of an organisation from the register shall be lifted if the Competent Body has received satisfactory information that the organisation is in compliance with the requirements of this Regulation.

Article 15

Forum of Competent Bodies

1. A Forum of Competent Bodies from all Member States (hereinafter "Forum") shall be set up by the Competent Bodies. It shall meet at least once per year in the presence of a representative of the Commission.

2. Competent bodies of each Member State shall participate in the Forum. Where several competent bodies are established within one Member State, appropriate measures shall be taken to ensure that all of them are informed about the activities of the Forum.

3. The Forum shall develop guidance to ensure the consistency of procedures relating to the registration of organisations in accordance with this Regulation, including suspension and deletion of organisations from the register. It shall transmit to the Commission the guidance documents and documents referring to the peer evaluation. These documents shall be made publicly available.

4. The Forum shall adopt its rules of procedure.

Article 16

Peer evaluation of Competent Bodies

1. A peer evaluation shall be organised by the Forum to assess conformity of the registration system of every Competent Body with this Regulation and to develop a harmonised approach of the application of the rules relating to registration.

2. The peer evaluation shall be carried out on a regular basis and at least every four years. All Competent Bodies shall participate in the peer evaluation.

3. The peer evaluation shall include at least an assessment of the rules and procedures relating to:

(a) registration;

(b) refusal of registration;

(c) suspension of organisations from the register referred to in Article 12(2);

(d) deletion of organisations from the register referred to in Article 12(2);

(e) management of the register referred to in Article 12(2).

4. The Commission shall establish procedures for carrying out the evaluation, including appropriate appeals procedures against decisions taken as a result of the evaluation.

Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 49(3).

5. The Forum shall transmit to the Commission an annual report of the peer evaluation.

That report shall be made publicly available.

CHAPTER V

Environmental verifiers

Article 17

Tasks of Environmental verifiers

1. Environmental verifiers shall assess whether an organisation’s environmental review, environmental policy, management system and audit procedures comply with the requirements of this Regulation.

2. Environmental verifiers shall check the following:

(a) compliance of the organisation with all the requirements of this Regulation with respect to the initial environmental review, environmental management system, environmental audit and its results and the environmental statement or the environmental performance report;

(b) compliance of the organisation with applicable Community, national, regional or local legal requirements relating to the environment;

(c) the organisation’s continuous improvement of environmental performance; and

(d) the reliability, credibility and correctness of the data and information in the following documents:

(i) the environmental statement;

(ii) the environmental performance report;

(iii) any environmental information to be validated.

3. Environmental verifiers shall, in particular, investigate the technical validity of the initial environmental review, or audit or other procedures carried out by the organisation, without unnecessarily duplicating those procedures.

4. Where appropriate environmental verifiers shall use spot-checks to determine whether the results of the internal audit are reliable.

5. At the time of the verification for the preparation for registration of an organisation, the environmental verifier shall check that at least the following requirements are met by that organisation:

(a) a fully operational environmental management system in accordance with Annex II is in place;

(b) a fully planned audit programme is in place and has begun in accordance with Annex III so that at least areas with the most significant environmental impact have been covered;

(c) the management review referred to in Part A of Annex II is completed; and

(d) an environmental statement is prepared in accordance with Part B of Annex IV.

6. For the purposes of the verification for the maintenance of registration referred to in Article 6(1), the environmental verifier shall check that the following requirements are met by the organisation:

(a) a fully operational environmental management system in accordance with Annex II;

(b) a fully operational planned audit programme, with at least a cycle completed in accordance with Annex III;

(c) completion of one management review; and

(d) preparation of an environmental statement in accordance with Part B of Annex IV.

7. For the purposes of the verification for maintenance of registration referred to in Article 6(2), the environmental verifier shall check that at least the following requirements are met by the organisation:

(a) the organisation has carried out an internal audit of the environmental performance and the compliance with applicable legal requirements relating to the environment in accordance with Annex III;

(b) the organisation demonstrates ongoing compliance with applicable legal requirements relating to the environment and continual improvement of its environmental performance; and

(c) the organisation has prepared an environmental performance report in accordance with Part C of Annex IV.

Article 18

Frequency of verification

1. The environmental verifier shall design, in consultation with the organisation, a programme that ensures that all elements required for registration and maintenance of registration referred to in Articles 4, 5 and 6 are verified.

2. The environmental verifier shall at intervals not exceeding 12 months validate any updated information in the environmental statement or the environmental performance report.

Article 19

Requirements for environmental verifiers

1. In order to obtain accreditation in accordance with this Regulation, a candidate environmental verifier shall introduce a request with the Accreditation Body from which it seeks accreditation.

That request shall specify the scope of requested accreditation by reference to the classification of economic activities as set out in Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council[24].

2. The environmental verifier shall provide to the Accreditation Body appropriate evidence of his knowledge, relevant experience and technical capacities relevant to the scope of the requested accreditation in the following fields:

(a) this Regulation;

(b) the general functioning of environmental management systems;

(c) relevant sectoral reference documents issued by the Commission, under Article 46, for the use of this Regulation;

(d) the legislative, regulatory and administrative requirements relevant to the activity subject to verification and validation;

(e) environmental aspects and impacts including the environmental dimension of sustainable development;

(f) of the technical aspects, relevant to environmental issues, of the activity subject to verification and validation;

(g) the general functioning of the activity subject to verification and validation in order to assess the appropriateness of the management system, in relation to the interaction of the organisation and its products, services and operations with the environment including at least the following:

(i) technologies employed by the organisation;

(ii) terminology and tools deployed in the activities;

(iii) operational activities and characteristics of their interaction with the environment;

(iv) methodologies for the evaluation of significant environmental aspects;

(v) pollution control and mitigation technologies;

(h) environmental auditing requirements and methodology including the ability to undertake effective verification audits of an environmental management system, identification of appropriate audit findings and conclusions and preparation and presentation of audits reports, in oral and written forms, to provide a clear record of the verification audit;

(i) information audit, environmental statement and environmental performance report in relation to data management, data storage and manipulation, presentation of data in written and graphical format for the appreciation of potential data errors, use of assumptions and estimates;

(j) the environmental dimension of products and services including the environmental aspects and performance during the usage and post-use, and the integrity of data provided for environmental decision making.

3. The environmental verifier shall be required to demonstrate a system of continued professional development in the fields of competence set out in paragraph 2 and to maintain such development for assessment by the Accreditation Body.

4. The environmental verifier shall be independent, in particular of the organisation's auditor or consultant, impartial and objective in performing his activities.

5. The environmental verifier shall ensure that he is free from any commercial, financial or other pressures which might influence the judgment of the verifier or endanger trust in the independence of judgment and integrity in relation to the verification activities. The environmental verifier shall ensure compliance with any rules applicable in this respect.

6. The environmental verifier shall have documented methods and procedures, including quality control mechanisms and confidentiality provisions, to comply with the verification and validation requirements of this Regulation.

7. Where an organisation acts as environmental verifier, it shall keep an organisation chart detailing structures and responsibilities within the organisation and a statement of legal status, ownership and funding sources.

That organisation chart shall be made available on request.

Article 20

Additional requirements for environmental verifiers being natural persons and performing verification and validation activities individually

1. Natural persons acting as environmental verifiers and performing verification and validation individually shall have, in addition to complying with the requirements set out in Article 19:

(a) all the necessary competence to perform verification and validation activities in their accredited fields,

(b) a limited scope of accreditation dependant on their personal competence.

2. Compliance with these requirements shall be ensured through the assessment carried out prior to the accreditation and through the supervision by the Accreditation Body.

Article 21

Additional requirements for environmental verifiers active in third countries

1. Where an environmental verifier intends to carry out verification and validation activities in third countries, he may seek accreditation for specific third countries.

2. In order to obtain accreditation for a third country, the environmental verifier shall meet, in addition to the requirements set out in Articles 19 and 20, the following requirements:

(a) knowledge and understanding of the legislative, regulatory and administrative requirements relating to the environment in the third country for which accreditation is sought;

(b) knowledge and understanding of the official language of the third country for which accreditation is sought.

3. The requirements set out in paragraph 2 shall be deemed to be met, if the environmental verifier demonstrates the existence of a contractual relationship between himself and a qualified person or organisation fulfilling those requirements.

That person or organisation shall be independent of the organisation to be verified.

Article 22

Supervision of environmental verifiers

1. Supervision of verification and validation activities carried out by environmental verifiers in:

(a) the Member State where they are accredited, shall be carried out by the Accreditation Body that granted the accreditation;

(b) a third country shall be carried out by the Accreditation Body that granted accreditation to the environmental verifier for those activities;

(c) a Member States other than where accreditation was granted, shall be carried out by the Accreditation Body of the latter Member State.

2. At least five working days in advance of each verification in a Member State, the environmental verifier shall notify his accreditation details and time and place of the verification to the Accreditation Body responsible for the supervision of the environmental verifier concerned.

3. The environmental verifier shall immediately inform the Accreditation Body of any changes which have a bearing on the accreditation or its scope.

4. Provision shall be made by the Accreditation Body, at regular intervals not exceeding 24 months, to ensure that the environmental verifier continues to comply with the accreditation requirements and to monitor the quality of the verification and validation activities undertaken.

5. Supervision may consist of office audit, on the spot supervision in organisations, questionnaires, review of environmental statements or environmental performance reports validated by the environmental verifiers and review of verification report.

Supervision shall be proportionate with the activity undertaken by the environmental verifier.

6. Any decision taken by the Accreditation Body to terminate or suspend accreditation or restrict the scope of accreditation shall be taken only after the environmental verifier has had the possibility of a hearing.

7. If the supervising Accreditation Body is of the opinion that the quality of the work of an environmental verifier does not meet the requirements of this Regulation, a supervision report shall be transmitted to the environmental verifier concerned and to the Competent Body to which the organisation concerned intends to apply for registration or which registered the organisation concerned.

In case of any further dispute, the supervision report shall be transmitted to the Meeting of the Accreditation Bodies referred to in Article 30.

Article 23

Additional requirements for supervision of environmental verifiers active in a Member State other than that where accreditation was granted

1. An environmental verifier accredited in one Member State, shall, at least five working days before performing verification and validation activities in another Member State, notify to the Accreditation Body of the latter Member State the following information:

(a) his accreditation details, competences and team composition if appropriate;

(b) the time and place of the verification and validation;

(c) address and contact details of the organisation.

That notification shall be provided before each new verification and validation activity.

2. The Accreditation Body may request clarification of the verifier's knowledge of the necessary applicable legal requirements relating to the environment.

3. The Accreditation Body may require other conditions than those referred to in paragraph 1, only if those other conditions do not prejudice the right of the environmental verifier to provide services in a Member State other than the one where accreditation was granted.

4. The Accreditation Body shall not use the procedure referred to in paragraph 1 to delay the arrival of the environmental verifier. Where the accreditation body is not able to fulfill its tasks according to paragraphs 2 and 3 before the time for verification and validation as notified by the verifier in accordance to point (b) of paragraph 1, it shall communicate a reasoned justification to the verifier.

5. No discriminatory fees for notification and supervision shall be charged by the accreditation bodies.

6. If the supervising Accreditation Body is of the opinion that the quality of the work of the environmental verifier does not meet the requirements of this Regulation, a supervision report shall be transmitted to the environmental verifier concerned, the Accreditation Body which granted the accreditation, and to the Competent Body to which the organisation concerned intends to apply for registration or which registered the organisation concerned. In case of any further dispute the supervision report shall be transmitted to the meeting of Accreditation Bodies referred to in Article 30.

7. Organisations must allow the Accreditation Bodies to supervise the environmental verifier during the verification and validation process.

Article 24

Conditions for performing verification and validation

1. The environmental verifier shall operate within the scope of his accreditation, and on the basis of a written agreement with the organisation.

That agreement shall:

(a) specify the scope of the activity,

(b) specify conditions aimed at enable the environmental verifier to operate in an independent professional manner, and

(c) commit the organisation to providing the necessary cooperation.

2. The environmental verifier shall ensure that the components of the organisation are unambiguously defined and correspond to a real division of the activities.

The environmental statement shall clearly specify the different parts of the organisation that are subject to verification or validation.

3. The environmental verifier shall carry out an assessment of the elements set out in Article 17.

4. Within verification and validation activities the environmental verifier shall examine documentation, visit the organisation, carry out spot-checks and conduct interviews with personnel.

5. Prior to a visit by the environmental verifier, the organisation shall provide him with basic information about the organisation and its activities, the environmental policy and programme, the description of the environmental management system in operation in the organisation, details of the environmental review or audit carried out, the report on that review or audit and on any corrective action taken afterwards, and the draft environmental statement or the environmental performance report.

6. The environmental verifier shall prepare a written report for the organisation, on the outcome of the verification, which shall specify:

(a) all issues relevant to the activity carried out by the environmental verifier;

(b) a description of conformity with all requirements of this Regulation including supporting evidence, findings and conclusions.

7. In cases of non-conformity with the provisions of this Regulation, the report shall specify:

(a) findings and conclusions on the non-conformity by the organisation and evidence on which these findings and conclusion are based;

(b) technical defects in the environmental review, audit method, environmental management system, or any other relevant process;

(c) points of disagreement with the draft environmental statement or the environmental performance report, and details of the amendments or additions that should be made to the environmental statement or the environmental performance report;

(d) the comparison of the achievements and targets with the previous environmental statements and the performance assessment and assessment of the continuous performance improvement of the organisation.

8. After verification, the environmental verifier shall validate the organisation's environmental statement or environmental performance report to confirm that it meets the requirements of this Regulation provided that the outcome of the verification confirms:

(a) that the information and data in the organisation’s environmental statement or environmental performance report are reliable and correct and meet the requirements of this Regulation;

(b) that the organisation fulfils all applicable legal requirements relating to the environment.

9. Upon validation, the environmental verifier shall issue a signed statement as referred to in Annex VII declaring that the verification was carried out in accordance with this Regulation.

Article 25

Verification and validation of small organisations

1. When carrying out verification and validation activities, the environmental verifier shall take into account specific characteristics of small organisations, including the following:

(a) short reporting lines;

(b) multifunctional staff;

(c) on-the-job training;

(d) the ability to adapt rapidly to change; and

(e) limited documentation of procedures.

2. The environmental verifier shall conduct verification or validation in a way that does not impose unnecessary burdens on small organisations.

3. The environmental verifier shall take into account objective evidence that a system is effective, including the existence of procedures within the organisation that are proportionate to the size and complexity of the operation, the nature of the associated environmental impacts and the competence of the operators.

Article 26

Conditions of verification and validation in Member States other than the one where the verifiers is accredited

1. Environmental verifiers accredited in one Member State may perform verification and validation activities in any other Member State in accordance with the requirements set out in this Regulation.

2. At least five working days before each verification or validation in a Member State other than the one where the environmental verifier is accredited, the environmental verifier shall notify his or her accreditation details and time and place of the verification or validation to the Accreditation Body of the other Member State.

3. The Accreditation Body may request clarification of the verifier's knowledge of the necessary applicable legal requirements relating to the environment.

4. The verification or validation activity shall be subject to supervision by the Accreditation Body of the Member State where the activity is to be performed. The start of the activity shall be notified to that Member State.

Article 27

Conditions for verification and validation in third countries

1. Environmental verifiers accredited in a Member State may perform verification and validation activities for an organisation located in a third country in accordance with the requirements set out in this Regulation.

2. At least six weeks before verification or validation in a third country, the environmental verifier shall notify his or her accreditation details and time and place of the verification or validation to the Accreditation Body of the Member State in which the organisation concerned intends to apply for registration or is registered.

3. The verification and validation activities shall be subject to supervision by the Accreditation Body of the Member State in which the organisation concerned intends to apply for registration or is registered. The start of the activity shall be notified to that Member State.

Chapter VI

Accreditation Bodies

Article 28

Operation of Accreditation

1. Accreditation Bodies appointed by the Member States pursuant to Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No xxxx/2008, shall be responsible for the accreditation of environmental verifiers and the supervision of the activities carried out by environmental verifiers in accordance with this Regulation.

2. Accreditation Bodies shall assess an environmental verifiers’ competence in the light of the elements set out in Articles 19, 20 and 21 relevant to the scope of the requested accreditation.

3. The scope of accreditation of environmental verifiers shall be determined according to the classification of economic activities as set out in Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006. That scope shall be limited by the competence of the environmental verifier and, where appropriate, it shall take into account the size and complexity of the activity.

4. Accreditation Bodies shall establish appropriate procedures on accreditation, refusal of accreditation, suspension and withdrawal of accreditation of environmental verifiers and on supervision of environmental verifiers.

Those procedures shall include mechanisms for considering observations from concerned parties, including Competent Bodies, concerning applicant and accredited environmental verifiers.

5. In case of a refusal of accreditation, the Accreditation Body shall inform the environmental verifier of the reasons for the decision.

6. Accreditation Bodies shall establish, revise and update a list of environmental verifiers and their scope of accreditation in their Member States and shall communicate changes in that list each month to the Commission and to the Competent Body of the Member State where the Accreditation Body is located.

7. Within the framework of the rules and procedures regarding monitoring of activities as laid down in Article 5(3) of Regulation (EC) No xxxx/2008, an Accreditation Body shall draw up a supervision report where it decides, after consultation with the environmental verifier concerned, either of the following:

(a) that the activities of the environmental verifier were not performed adequately enough to ensure that the requirements of this Regulation are met by the organisation;

(b) that the verification and the validation by the environmental verifier were carried out in violation of one or more of the requirements of this Regulation.

This report shall be transmitted to the Competent Body in the Member State where the organisation is registered or applies for registration and, if applicable, to the Accreditation Body that granted the accreditation.

Article 29

Suspension and withdrawal of accreditation

1. Suspension or withdrawal of accreditation shall require the consultation of concerned parties including the environmental verifier, in order to provide the Accreditation Body with the necessary evidence for taking its decision.

2. The Accreditation Body shall inform the environmental verifier of the reasons for the measures taken and, if applicable, of the process of discussion with the competent enforcement authority.

3. The accreditation shall be suspended or withdrawn until assurance of the verifiers compliance with the obligations of this Regulation is obtained, as appropriate, depending on the nature and scope of the failure or violation of legal requirements.

4. Suspension of accreditation shall be lifted if the Accreditation Body has received satisfactory information that the environmental verifier complies with the requirements of this Regulation.

Article 30

Meeting of the Accreditation Bodies

1. Within the framework of the body recognised under Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No xxxx/2008 the Accreditation Bodies from all Member States shall meet at least once per year in the presence of a representative of the Commission (hereinafter, "meeting of the Accreditation Bodies").

2. The task of the meeting of the Accreditation Bodies shall be to ensure the consistency of procedures relating to the following:

(a) the accreditation of verifiers under this Regulation, including refusal, suspension and withdrawal of accreditation;

(b) the supervision of activities carried out by accredited verifiers.

3. The meeting of the Accreditation Bodies shall develop guidance on issues in the field of the competence of Accreditation Bodies.

4. The meeting of the Accreditation Bodies shall adopt rules of procedure.

5. The guidance documents referred to in paragraph 3 and the rules of procedure referred to in paragraph 4 shall be transmitted to the Commission.

Article 31

Peer evaluation of Accreditation Bodies

1. The peer evaluation with regard to accreditation of environmental verifiers under this Regulation to be organised by the body referred to in Article 30(1) in accordance with Article 10 of Regulation (EC) No xxxx/2008, shall include at least an assessment of the rules and procedures relating to the following:

(a) the competence of verifiers;

(b) independence, objectivity and impartiality of verifiers;

(c) specification of the scope of accreditation of verifiers;

(d) requirements for verifiers;

(e) supervision process for verifiers carrying out verification and validation activities in Member States;

(f) supervision process for verifiers carrying out verification and validation activities in third countries;

(g) management of the list of accredited environmental verifiers.

2. The peer review of the accreditation systems with regard to the implementation of this Regulation shall be carried out on a regular basis, not exceeding four years.

3. The body referred to in Article 30(1) shall transmit to the Commission an annual report of the peer evaluation.

That report shall be made publicly available.

CHAPTER VII

Rules applicable to Member States

Article 32

Information on Competent Bodies

Member States shall inform the Commission of the structure and procedures relating to the functioning of the Competent Bodies. They shall regularly update that information.

Article 3 3

Assistance to organisations relating to compliance with legal requirement relating to the environment

1. Member States shall set up a system ensuring that information and assistance regarding legal requirements relating to the environment in that Member State is provided, upon request, to organisations in the process of registration.

2. The assistance shall include the following:

(a) information regarding the applicable legal requirements relating to the environment;

(b) identification of the competent enforcement authorities for each legal requirement relating to the environment that has been identified as being applicable;

(c) identification and clarification of the means to provide evidence that the organisation meets the legal requirements relating to the environment that have been identified as being applicable;

(d) establishment of contacts with the relevant enforcement authorities if necessary.

3. Member States may confer the task referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 to the Competent Bodies or to any other body

4. Member States shall ensure that the bodies or organisations they designated pursuant to paragraph 3 have the necessary expertise and the appropriate resources, both financial and personnel to fulfil their tasks.

5. Member States shall ensure that enforcement authorities reply to requests from organisations on the applicable legal requirements relating to the environment that fall within their competence and provide information to the organisations on their state of compliance with these requirements.

6. Member States shall ensure that competent enforcement authorities communicate as soon as possible and in any case within one month of failure by registered organisations to comply with this Regulation to the Competent Body which has registered the organisation.

Article 34

Promotion plan

Member States shall adopt a promotion plan, which includes objectives, actions and initiatives to promote EMAS in general and to encourage organisations to participate in EMAS.

Article 35

Information

1. Member States shall take appropriate measures to provide information to the public about the objectives and principal components of EMAS.

2. Member States shall, where appropriate, in particular in cooperation with, industrial associations, consumer organisations, environmental organisations, trade unions and local institutions, use professional publications, local journals, promotion campaigns or any other functional means to increase general awareness of EMAS.

3. Member States shall take appropriate measures to provide information to organisations about the content of this Regulation.

Article 36

Promotion activities

Member States shall carry out promotion activities for EMAS, including:

(1) the promotion of the exchange of knowledge and best practices on EMAS among all concerned parties;

(2) the development of effective tools for EMAS promotion and to share them with organisations;

(3) the provision of technical support to organisations in the definition and implementation of their marketing activities;

(4) the encouragement of partnerships among organisations for EMAS promotion.

Article 37

Promotion of participation of small organisations

Member States shall take adequate measures to ensure the participation of small organisations by:

(1) facilitating access to information and support funds specially adapted to them;

(2) ensuring that reasonable registration fees encourage their participation;

(3) promoting technical assistance measures, in particular, in conjunction with initiatives from professional or local points of contact, local authorities, chambers of commerce, trade or craft associations.

Article 38

Cluster and step-by-step approach

1. Member States shall ensure that local authorities, in participation with industrial associations, chambers of commerce and concerned parties provide specific assistance to clusters of organisations that are related to each other by geographical proximity or business activities, to meet the requirements for registration as referred to in Articles 4, 5 and 6.

2. Member States shall develop programmes designed to encourage organisations to implement an environment management system. They shall in particular encourage a step-by-step approach which may eventually lead to EMAS registration.

Those systems and programmes shall operate with the objective of avoiding unnecessary costs for participants, in particular for small organisations.

Article 39

EMAS and other environmental policies and instruments in the Community

1. Member States shall establish a yearly strategy in conjunction with Competent Bodies and enforcement authorities in order to address how registration under EMAS in accordance with this Regulation:

(a) can be taken into account in the development of new legislation;

(b) can be used as a tool in the application and enforcement of legislation.

2. Without prejudice to Community legislation, notably competition, taxation and state aid legislation, Member States shall, where appropriate, take measures facilitating organisations to become or remain EMAS registered. Those measures shall be taken, in either of the following two forms:

36. regulatory relief, so that an EMAS registered organisation is considered as being compliant with certain legal requirements relating to the environment laid down in other legal instruments, identified by the competent authorities;

37. better regulation, whereby other legal instruments are modified so that burdens on organisations participating in EMAS are removed, reduced or simplified with a view to encouraging the efficient operation of markets and raise the level of competitiveness.

Article 40

Costs and fees

1. Member States shall establish a system of fees taking into account the following:

(a) the costs incurred in connection with the provision of information and assistance to organisations by the bodies designated or set up to this end by Member States pursuant to Article 33;

(b) the costs incurred in connection with the accreditation and supervision of environmental verifiers and other related costs of EMAS;

(c) the costs for registration by Competent Bodies as well as the additional costs of administering the registration process for organisations outside the Community.

Those fees shall not exceed a reasonable amount and shall be proportionate to the size of the organisation and to the work to be done.

2. Member States may decide as a measure of promotion not to charge any fees.

Article 41

Non-compliance

1. Member States shall take appropriate legal or administrative measures in case of non-compliance with the provisions of this Regulation.

2. Member States shall put in place effective provisions against the use of the EMAS logo in violation of the provisions of this Regulation.

Article 42

Information and reporting to the Commission

Member States shall annually report to the Commission on the measures taken pursuant to this Regulation.

In these reports, Member States shall take account the latest report presented by the Commission to the European Parliament and to the Council pursuant to Article 47.

CHAPTER VIII

Rules applicable to the European Commission

Article 43

Information

1. The Commission shall provide information to the public on the objectives and principal components of EMAS.

2. The Commission shall maintain and make publicly available:

(a) a register of environmental verifiers and EMAS registered organisations;

(b) a database of environmental statements and environmental performance reports in electronic format

Article 44

Collaboration and coordination

1. The Commission may promote collaboration between Member States in order, in particular, to come to a uniform and consistent application of the rules throughout the Community relating to the following:

(a) registration of organisations;

(b) environmental verifiers;

(c) the information and assistance referred to in Article 33.

2. Without prejudice to Community legislation on public procurement, the Commission and other Community institutions and bodies shall, where appropriate, refer to EMAS or equivalent environmental management systems as contract performance conditions for works and service contracts.

Article 45

Relationship with other environmental management systems

1. Member States may submit to the Commission a written request for recognition of existing environmental management systems, or parts thereof, that are certified according to appropriate certification procedures recognised at national or regional level, as complying with corresponding requirements of this Regulation.

2. Member States shall specify in their request the relevant parts of the environmental management systems and the corresponding requirements of this Regulation

3. Member States shall provide evidence of the equivalence with this Regulation of all relevant parts of the environmental management system concerned.

4. The Commission shall, after examination of the request referred to in paragraph 1, and acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 49(2), recognise the relevant parts of the environmental management systems and recognise the accreditation requirements for the certification bodies if it is of the opinion that a Member State has:

(a) specified sufficiently clearly in the request the relevant parts of the environmental management systems and the corresponding requirements of this Regulation;

(b) provided sufficient evidence of the equivalence with this Regulation of all relevant parts of the environmental management system at stake.

5. The Commission shall publish the references of the recognised environmental management systems, including the relevant sections of EMAS referred to in Annex I to which they apply, and the recognised accreditation requirements in the Official Journal of the European Union .

Article 46

Development of sectoral reference documents

The Commission shall ensure information exchange and collaboration between Member States and other stakeholders on the best environmental management practice for relevant sectors, in order to develop sectoral reference documents, including best environmental management practice and environmental performance indicators for specific sectors.

Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny laid down in Article 49(3).

Article 47

Reporting

Every five years, the Commission shall submit to the European Parliament and to the Council a report containing information on the actions and measures taken under this Chapter and information received from the Member States pursuant to Articles 32 and 42.

CHAPTER IX

Final provisions

Article 48

Amendment of Annexes

1. The Commission may amend the Annexes if necessary or appropriate, in the light of experience gained in the operation of EMAS, in response to identified needs for guidance on EMAS requirements and in the light of any changes in international standards or new standards which are of relevance to the effectiveness of this Regulation.

2. Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 49(3).

Article 49

Committee

1. The Commission shall be assisted by a committee.

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, the advisory procedure laid down in Article 3 of Council Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, in compliance with Article 7(3) and Article 8 thereof.

3. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5a (1) to (4) and 7 of Council Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

Article 50

Revision

The Commission shall review EMAS in the light of the experience gained during its operation and international developments. It shall take into account the reports transmitted to the European Parliament and to the Council in accordance with Article 47.

Article 51

Repeal and transitional provisions

1. The following legal acts are repealed:

(a) Regulation (EC) 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)[25],

(b) Commission Decision 2001/681/EC on guidance for the implementation of Regulation (EC) 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[26],

(c) Commission Decision 2006/193/EC laying down rules, under Regulation (EC) No 761/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council, on the use of the EMAS logo in the exceptional cases of transport packaging and tertiary packaging[27]

2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, the second, third and fourth subparagraphs of this paragraph shall apply.

National Accreditation Bodies and Competent Bodies set up pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 761/2001 shall continue their activities. Member States shall modify the procedures followed by Accreditation Bodies and Competent Bodies in accordance with this Regulation. Member States shall ensure that these systems are fully operational within six months following the date of entry into force of this Regulation.

Organisations registered in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 761/2001 shall remain on the EMAS register. At the time of the next verification of an organisation the environmental verifier shall check its compliance with the new requirements of this Regulation. If the next verification is to be carried out sooner than six months after entry into force of this Regulation, the date of the next verification may be extended by six months in agreement with the environmental verifier and the Competent Bodies.

Environmental verifiers accredited in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 761/2001 may continue to perform their activities in accordance with the requirements established by this Regulation.

3. References to Regulation (EC) No 761/2001 shall be construed as references to this Regulation and be read in accordance with the correlation table set out in Annex VIII.

Article 52

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union .

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels,

For the European Parliament For the Council

The President The President

ANNEX I

ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW

The environmental review shall cover the following areas:

1. Identification of the applicable legal requirements relating to the environment.

In addition to the establishment of a list of applicable legal requirements, the organisation shall also indicate how evidence that it is complying with the different requirements, can be provided.

2. Identification of all direct and indirect environmental aspects with a significant impact on the environment, qualified and quantified as appropriate and compiling a register of those identified as significant;

An organisation shall consider the following issues in assessing the significance of an environmental aspect:

38. potential to cause environmental harm

39. fragility of the local, regional or global environment

40. si