Common Position (EC) No 21/2000 of 28 February 2000 adopted by the Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, with a view to adopting a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council allowing voluntary participation by organisations in a Community eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS)
Date: 2000-02-28
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: environmental monitoring, environmental policy, environmental protection, management audit, type of business

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I

(Information)

COUNCIL

COMMON POSITION (EC) No 21/2000

adopted by the Council on 28 February 2000

with a view to adopting Regulation (EC) No .../2000 of the European Parliament and of the
Council of ... allowing voluntary participation by organisations in a Community eco-management
and audit scheme (EMAS)

(2000/C 128/01)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,

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

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee (2),

After consulting the Committee of the Regions,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in
Article 251 of the Treaty (3),

Whereas:

(1) Article 2 of the Treaty stipulates that the Community
shall have among its tasks to promote throughout the
Community sustainable growth and the resolution of
1 February 1993 (4) stresses the importance of such
sustainable growth.

(1) OJ C 400, 22.12.1998, p. 7.
(2) OJ C 209, 22.7.1999, p. 43.
(3) Opinion of the European Parliament of 15 April 1999 (OJ C 219,
30.7.1999, p. 385) Council common position of 28 February
2000 and Decision of the European Parliament of ... (not yet
published in the Official Journal).

(4) Resolution of the Council and the representatives of the Govern-
ments of the Member States, meeting within the Council of 1
February 1993 on a Community programme of policy and action
in relation to the environment and sustainable development (OJ
C 138, 17.5.1993, p. 1).

(2) The programme ‘Towards sustainability’, submitted by
the Commission and approved as to its general approach
by the resolution of 1 February 1993, underlines the role
and responsibilities of organisations, both to reinforce
the economy and to protect the environment throughout
the Community.

(3) The programme ‘Towards sustainability’ calls for broad-
ening the range of instruments in the field of environmen-
tal protection and for using market-mechanisms to
commit organisations to adopt a proactive approach in
this field beyond compliance with all relevant regulatory
requirements regarding the environment.

(4) The Commission should promote a coherent approach
between the legislative instruments developed at Com-
munity level in the field of environmental protection.

(5) Council Regulation (EEC) No 1836/93 of 29 June 1993
allowing voluntary participation by companies in the
industrial sector in a Community eco-management and
audit scheme (5) demonstrated its effectiveness in promot-
ing improvements of the environmental performance of
industry.

(5) OJ L 168, 10.7.1993, p. 1.

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(6) The experience gathered from the implementation of
Regulation (EEC) No 1836/93 should be used to enhance
the ability of the Community eco-management and audit
scheme (EMAS) to bring about an improvement in the
overall environmental performance of organisations.

(13) It is therefore necessary to ensure the competence of the
environmental verifiers by providing for an independent
and neutral accreditation system and an appropriate
supervision of their activities in order to ensure the
overall credibility of EMAS; close cooperation between
the national accreditation bodies should accordingly be
set up.

(7)

(8)

EMAS should be made available to all organisations
having environmental impacts, providing a means for
them to manage these impacts and to improve their
overall environmental performance.

In accordance with the principles of subsidiarity and
proportionality referred to in Article 5 of the Treaty,
the effectiveness of EMAS in contributing to improved
environmental performance of European organisations
can be better achieved at Community level; this Regu-
lation limits itself to ensuring an equal implementation
of EMAS throughout the Community by providing for
common rules, procedures and essential requirements
that can be
regarding EMAS while the measures
level are left to the
adequately performed at national
Member States.

(9) 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.

(10) It is important that small and medium-sized enterprises
participate in EMAS and that 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) The information provided by Member States should be
used by the Commission to assess the need for developing
specific measures aimed at greater participation in EMAS
by organisations, in particular small and medium-sized
enterprises.

(12) The

transparency and credibility of organisations
implementing environmental management systems are
enhanced when their management system, audit pro-
gramme and environmental statement are examined to
verify that they meet the relevant requirements of this
Regulation and when the environmental statement and
its
subsequent updates are validated by accredited
environmental verifiers.

(14) Organisations should be encouraged to produce and
make publicly available periodic environmental state-
ments providing the public and other interested parties
with information on their environmental performance.

(15) In addition to the general requirements of the environ-
mental management system EMAS places special signifi-
cance on the following elements:
legal compliance,
improvement of environmental performance and also
external communication and employee involvement.

(16) The Commission should adapt

the Annexes to this
Regulation, with the exception of Annex V, recognise
European and international standards for environmental
issues of relevance to EMAS and establish guidelines in
partnership with EMAS interested parties for the purpose
of ensuring consistent implementation of the EMAS
requirements across Member States.

(17) 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 (1).

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

(19) The European institutions should endeavour to adopt the

principles laid down in this Regulation.

(20) This Regulation takes over and replaces Regulation (EEC)

No 1836/93 which should therefore be repealed,

(1) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.

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HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

The eco-management and audit scheme and its objectives

A Community eco-management and audit

1.
scheme
allowing voluntary participation by organisations, hereafter
referred to as ‘EMAS’, is established for the evaluation and
improvement of the environmental performance of organis-
ations and the provision of relevant information to the public
and other interested parties.

2.
The objective of EMAS shall be to promote continual
improvements in the environmental performance of organis-
ations by:

(a) the establishment and implementation of environmental

management systems by organisations;

(b) the systematic, objective and periodic evaluation of the

performance of such systems;

(c) the provision of information on environmental perform-
ance and an open dialogue with the public and other
interested parties;

(d) the active involvement, including appropriate training, of

employees.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation:

(a)

‘environmental policy’ shall mean an organisation’s overall
aims and principles of action with respects to the environ-
ment including compliance with all relevant regulatory
requirements regarding the environment and also a com-
improvement of environmental
mitment
performance; the environmental policy provides the frame-
work for setting and reviewing environmental objectives
and targets;

to continual

(b) ‘continual improvement of environmental performance’
shall mean the process of enhancing, year by year, the
measurable results of
the environmental management
system related to an organisation’s management of its
significant environmental aspects, based on its environ-
mental policy, objectives and targets; the enhancing of the
results need not take place in all spheres of activity
simultaneously;

(c)

‘environmental performance’ shall mean the results of an
organisation’s management of its environmental aspects;

(d) ‘prevention of pollution’ shall mean use of processes,
practices, materials or products that avoid, reduce or
control pollution, which may include recycling, treatment,
process changes, control mechanisms, efficient use of
resources and material substitution;

(e)

‘environmental review’ shall mean an initial comprehensive
analysis of the environmental issues, impact and perform-
ance related to activities of an organisation, (Annex VII);

(f)

‘environmental aspect’ shall mean an element of an
organisation’s activities, products or services that can
interact with the environment, (Annex VI); a significant
environmental aspect is an environmental aspect that has
or can have a significant environmental impact;

(g) ‘environmental

impact’ shall mean any change to the
environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organisation’s activities, prod-
ucts or services;

(h) ‘environmental programme’ shall mean 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;

(i)

(j)

‘environmental objective’ shall mean an overall environ-
mental goal, arising from the environmental policy, that
an organisation sets itself to achieve, and which is quanti-
fied where practicable;

‘environmental target’ shall mean a detailed performance
requirement, quantified where practicable, applicable to
the organisation or parts thereof, that arises from the
environmental objectives and that needs to be set and met
in order to achieve those objective;

the overall management system that

(k) ‘environmental management system’ shall mean the part
includes the
of
organisational
responsi-
bilities, practices, procedures, processes and resources
for developing, implementing, achieving, reviewing and
maintaining the environmental policy;

structure, planning activities,

(l)

‘environmental audit’ shall mean a management
tool
comprising a systematic, documented, periodic and objec-
tive evaluation of the performance of the organisation,
management system and processes designed to protect the
environment with the aim of:

(i)

facilitating management control of practices which
may have an impact on the environment;

(ii) assessing compliance with the environmental policy,
including environmental objectives and targets of the
organisations, (Annex II);

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(m) ‘audit cycle’ shall mean the period of time in which all the

activities in an organisation are audited, (Annex II);

(n) ‘auditor’ shall mean an individual or a team, belonging to
the organisation personnel or external to the organisation,
acting on behalf of the organisation’s top management,
possessing, individually or collectively, the competences
referred to in Annex II, point 2.4 and being sufficiently
independent of
to make an
objective judgement

the activities they audit

(o) ‘environmental statement’ shall mean the information

detailed in Annex III point 3.2 ((a) to (g));

(p) ‘interested party’ shall mean an individual or group,
including authorities, concerned with or affected by the
environmental performance of an organisation;

(q) ‘environmental verifier’ shall mean any person or organis-
ation independent of
the organisation being verified,
who has obtained accreditation, in accordance with the
conditions and procedures referred to in Article 4;

(r)

‘accreditation system’ shall mean a system for the accredita-
tion and supervision of environmental verifiers operated
by an impartial institution or organisation designated or
created by the Member State (accreditation body), with
sufficient resources and competency and having appropri-
ate procedures for performing the functions defined by
this Regulation for such a system;

(s)

‘organisation’ shall mean a company, corporation, firm,
enterprise, authority or institution, or part or combination
thereof, whether incorporated or not, public or private,
that has its own functions and administrations.

The entity to be registered as an organisation under EMAS
shall be agreed with the environmental verifier, taking
account of Commission guidance, established in accord-
ance with the procedure laid down in Article 14, but shall
not exceed the boundaries of one Member State. The
smallest entity to be considered shall be a site. Under
exceptional circumstances identified by the Commission
in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 14,
the entity to be considered for registration under EMAS
may be smaller than a site;

(t)

‘site’ shall mean all land at a distinct geographic location
under the management control of an organisation covering
activities, products and services. This includes all infrastruc-
ture, equipment and materials;

(u) ‘competent bodies’ shall mean the bodies designated by
in
Member States, whether national, regional or local,
accordance with Article 5, to perform the tasks specified
in this Regulation.

Article 3

Participation in EMAS

1.
EMAS shall be open to the participation of any organis-
ation dedicated to improving its overall environmental per-
formance.

In order for an organisation to be registered under EMAS

2.
it shall:

(a) conduct an environmental review of its activities, products
and services in accordance with Annex VII addressing the
issues contained in Annex VI and, in the light of the results
of that review, implement an environmental management
system covering all the requirements referred to in Annex I.

However, organisations which have a certified environ-
mental management system, recognised according to the
requirements of Article 9, do not need to conduct a
formal environmental review when moving on to EMAS
implementation,
the necessary information for the
identification and evaluation of the environmental aspects
set out in Annex VI is provided by the certified environ-
mental management system;

if

(b) carry our, or cause to be carried out, environmental
auditing in accordance with the requirements set out in
Annex II. The audits shall be designed to assess the
environmental performance of the organisation;

(c) prepare,

in accordance with Annex III, point 3.2, an
environmental statement. The statement shall pay particu-
lar attention to the performance of an organisation against
its environmental objectives and targets;

(d) have the environmental review, if appropriate, manage-
ment system, audit procedure and environmental state-
ment examined to verify that they meet the relevant
requirements of this Regulation and have the environmen-
tal statement validated by the environmental verifier to
ensure it meets the requirements of Annex III;

(e)

forward the validated environmental statement to the
competent body of
the Member State in which the
organisation seeking registration is located and, after
registration, make it publicly available.

In order for an organisation to maintain registration to

3.
EMAS it shall:

(a) have the environmental management system and audit
programme verified in accordance with the requirements
of Annex V, point 5.6;

(b) forward the yearly validated updates of its environmental
statement of the competent body and make them publicly
available. Deviations from the frequency with which
updates shall be performed can be made under circum-
stances laid down in Commission guidance adopted in
accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 14(2).

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Article 4

Accreditation system

1. Member States shall establish a system for the accredita-
independent environmental verifiers and for the
tion of
supervision of their activities. To this end, Member States may
either use existing accreditation institutions or the competent
bodies referred to in Article 5 or designate or set up any other
body with an appropriate status.

Member States shall ensure that the composition of these
systems is such as to guarantee their independence and
neutrality in the execution of their tasks.

2. Member States shall ensure that these systems are fully
operational within 12 months of the date of entry into force
of this Regulation.

3. Member States shall ensure appropriate consultation of
parties involved, in setting up and directing the accreditation
systems.

4.
The accreditation of environmental verifiers and super-
vision of their activities shall be in accordance with the
requirements of Annex V.

In order to ensure a harmonised development of the func-
tioning of accreditation bodies and the verification process in
all the Member States, the forum shall develop procedures for
a peer review process. The aim of the peer review shall be to
ensure that the accreditation systems of Member States meet
the requirements of this Regulation. A report of the peer
review activities shall be transmitted to the Commission which
shall forward it for information to the Committee referred to
in Article 14(2) and make it publicly available.

Article 5

Competent bodies

1. Within three months of the entry into force of this
Regulation, each Member State shall designate the competent
body responsible for carrying out the tasks provided for in this
Regulation, in particular in Articles 6 and 7 and shall inform
the Commission thereof.

2. Member States shall ensure that the composition of the
competent bodies is such as to guarantee their independence
and neutrality and that
the competent bodies apply the
provisions of this Regulation in a consistent manner.

5.
Environmental verifiers accredited in one Member State
may perform verification activities in any other Member State
in accordance with the requirements laid down in Annex V.

3. Member States shall have guidelines for suspension and
deletion of the registration of organisation, for the use of
competent bodies. Competent bodies shall, in particular, have
procedures:

inform the Commission of the
6. Member States shall
measures taken pursuant to this Article and communicate
relevant changes in the structure and procedures of
the
accreditation systems.

7.
The Commission shall, in accordance with the procedure
laid down in Article 14(2), promote collaboration between
Member States in order, in particular, to avoid inconsistency
between Annex V and the criteria, conditions and procedures
which the national accreditation bodies apply for the accredita-
tion and supervision of environmental verifiers to ensure a
consistent quality of environmental verifiers.

8.
A forum, constituted of all accreditation bodies, shall be
set up by the accreditation bodies with the aim of providing
the Commission with the elements and means to fulfil its
obligation under paragraph 7. It shall meet at least once per
year in the presence of a representative of the Commission.

The forum shall, as appropriate, develop guidance on issues in
the field of accreditation, competence and supervision of
environmental verifiers. Guidance documents produced shall
be submitted to the procedure laid down in Article 14(2).

— for considering observations from interested parties con-

cerning registered organisations, and

— for refusal of registration, deletion or suspension of

organisations from registration.

4.
The competent body shall be responsible for the regis-
tration of organisations under EMAS. It shall therefore control
the entry and maintenance of organisations on the register.

Competent bodies from all Member States shall meet, at
5.
least once a year in the presence of a representative of the
Commission. The objective of these meetings is to ensure the
consistency of procedures relating to the registration of
organisations under EMAS, including suspension and deletion
of registration. A peer review process shall be put in place by
the competent bodies for the purpose of developing a common
understanding of their practical approach towards registration.
A report of the peer review activities shall be transmitted to
the Commission which shall forward it for information to the
Committee referred to in Article 14(2), and make it publicly
available.

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Article 6

Registration of organisations

Registration of organisations shall be dealt with by competent
bodies on the basis of the following cases.

1.

If a competent body

— has received a validated environmental statement, and

— has received a completed form, which includes at least
the minimum information set out in Annex VIII, from
the organisation, and

— has received any registration fee that may be payable

under Article 16, and

— is satisfied, on the basis of evidence received, that
the organisation meets all the requirements of this
Regulation,

it shall register the applicant organisation and give it a
registration number. The competent body shall inform the
organisation’s management that the organisation appears
on the register.

2.

the

If a competent body receives a supervision report from the
accreditation body which gives evidence that the activities
of
environmental verifier were not performed
adequately enough to ensure that the requirements of
this Regulation are met by the applicant organisation,
registration shall be refused or suspended as appropriate
until assurance of the organisation’s compliance with
EMAS is obtained.

3.

If an organisation fails to submit to a competent body,
within three months of being required to do so,

— the yearly validated updates of the environmental

statement, or

— a completed form, which includes at least the minimum
information set out in Annex VIII from the organis-
ation, or

— any relevant registration fees,

the organisation shall be suspended or deleted from the
register, as appropriate, depending on the nature and scope
of
inform the
organisation’s management of the reasons for the measures
taken.

the failure. The competent body shall

4.

If, at any time, a competent body concludes, on the basis
of evidence received, that the organisation is no longer
complying with one or more of the conditions of this
Regulation, the organisation shall be suspended or deleted
from the register, as appropriate, depending on the nature
and scope of the failure.

If a competent body is informed by the competent
enforcement authority of a breach by the organisation of
relevant regulatory requirements regarding environmental
protection, it shall refuse registration of that organisation
or suspend it from the register as appropriate.

5. Refusal of registration, suspension or deletion of organis-
ations from the register shall require the consultation of
the appropriate interested parties, in order to provide the
competent body with the necessary elements of evidence
for taking its decision. The competent body shall inform
the organisation’s management of the reasons for the
measures taken and of the process of discussion with the
competent enforcement authority.

6. Refusal or suspension shall be lifted if the competent body
has received satisfactory information that the organisation
is in compliance with the requirements of EMAS or if it
has received satisfactory information from the competent
enforcement authority that the breach has been rectified
and that the organisation has made statisfactory arrange-
ments with the aim of ensuring that it does not recur.

Article 7

List of

registered organisations and environmental

verifiers

1.
The accreditation body shall establish, revise and update
a list of environmental verifiers and their scope of accreditation
in their Member State and shall directly, or via the national
authorities as decided by the Member State concerned, com-
municate changes in this list each month to the Commission
and to the competent body.

2.
The competent bodies shall establish and maintain a list
of registered organisations in their Member State and update
this list on a monthly basis. The competent bodies shall
directly, or via the national authorities as decided by the
Member State concerned, communicate changes in the list
each month to the Commission.

The register of environmental verifiers and EMAS regis-
3.
tered organisations shall be maintained by the Commission
which shall make it publicly available.

Article 8

Logo

in Annex IV only if

Organisations participating in EMAS may use the logo
1.
set out
they have a current EMAS
registration. Technical specifications regarding the repro-
duction of the logo shall be adopted in accordance with the
procedure laid down in Article 14(2) and published by the
Commission.

The EMAS logo may be used by organisations in the

2.
following cases:

(a) on validated information as described in Annex III,
point 3.5, under circumstances defined in Commission
guidance adopted under the procedure laid down in
Article 14(2) which shall ensure that there is no confusion
with environmental product labels (version 2 of the logo,
as given in Annex IV, shall be used in this case);

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(b) on validated environmental statements (version 2 of the
logo, as given in Annex IV, shall be used in this case);

Article 10

(c) on registered organisations’ letterheads (version 1 of the
logo, as given in Annex IV, shall be used in this case);

Relationship with other environmental legislation in the
Community

(d) on information advertising an organisation’s participation
in EMAS (version 1 of the logo, as given in Annex IV, shall
be used in this case);

(e) on or in adverts for products, activities and services, only
under circumstances defined in Commission guidance
adopted in accordance with Article 14(2) which shall
ensure that there is no confusion with environmental
product labels.

3.

The logo shall not be used in the following cases:

(a) on products or their packaging,

(b) in conjunction with comparative claims concerning other

products, activities and services.

The Commission shall however, as a part of the evaluation
provided for in Article 15(3), consider under which exceptional
circumstances the logo may be used and, for these cases, shall
adopt rules in accordance with the procedure laid down in
Article 14(2) which shall ensure that there is no confusion
with environmental product labels.

Article 9

Relationship with European and international standards

Organisations implementing European or international
1.
standards for environmental
issues relevant to EMAS and
certified, according to appropriate certification procedures, as
complying with those standards shall be considered as meeting
the corresponding requirements of this Regulation, provided
that:

(a) the standards are recognised by the Commission acting in
accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 14(2);

(b) the accreditation requirements for the certification bodies
are recognised by the Commission acting in accordance
with the procedure laid down in Article 14(2).

The references of the recognised standards (including the
relevant sections of EMAS to which they apply) and recognised
accreditation requirements shall be published in the Official
Journal of the European Communities.

2.
To enable organisations referred to in paragraph 1 to be
registered under EMAS, the organisations concerned shall
demonstrate to the environmental verifier compliance with
requirements not covered by the recognised standards.

1.

EMAS shall be without prejudice to:

(a) Community law, or

(b) national

laws or technical standards not governed by

Community law and

(c) the duties of organisations under those laws and standards

regarding environmental controls.

2. Member States should consider how registration under
EMAS in accordance with this Regulation may be taken
into account
in the implementation and enforcement of
environmental legislation in order to avoid unnecessary dupli-
cation of effort by both organisations and competent enforce-
ment authorities.

Member States shall inform the Commission of the measures
taken in this regard.

Article 11

Promotion of organisations’ participation, in particular of
small and medium-sized enterprises

1. Member States shall promote organisations’ participation
in EMAS and shall, in particular consider the need to ensure
the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
by:

— facilitating the access to information, existing support

funds and public institutions,

— establishing or promoting technical assistance measures,
especially in conjunction with initiatives from appropriate
professional or local points of contact (e.g. local authorities,
chambers of commerce, trade or craft associations).

In order to promote participation of SMEs, including those
concentrated in well defined geographical areas, local auth-
orities, in participation with industrial associations, chambers
of commerce and interested parties may provide assistance in
the identification of significant environmental impacts. SMEs
may then use this in defining their environmental programme
and setting the objectives and targets of their EMAS manage-
ment system. In addition, programmes designed to encourage
the participation of SMEs, such as a step-by-step approach
which will eventually lead to EMAS registration, may be
developed at regional or national level.

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2.
In order to encourage organisations’ participation in
EMAS the Commission and other institutions of the Com-
munity as well as other public authorities at national level
should consider, without prejudice to Community law, how
registration under EMAS may be taken into account when
setting criteria for their procurement policies.

3. Member States shall
measures taken under this Article.

inform the Commission of the

Article 12

Information

Each Member State shall take appropriate measures to

1.
ensure that:

(a) organisations are informed of the content of this Regu-

lation;

(b) the public is informed of the objectives and principal

components of EMAS.

Member States shall in particular use professional publications,
local journals, promotion campaigns or any other functional
means to promote general awareness of EMAS.

2. Member States shall
measures taken under this Article.

inform the Commission of the

3.
The Commission shall be responsible for promoting
EMAS at Community level. It shall, in particular, examine in
consultation with the members of the Committee referred to
in Article 14(1) the possibility of disseminating best practice
by appropriate ways and means.

Article 13

Infringements

Member States shall take appropriate legal or administrative
measures in case of non-compliance with the provisions of
this Regulation and communicate these measures to the
Commission.

Article 14

Committee

The Commission shall be assisted by a committee,

1.
(hereinafter referred to as ‘the committee’).

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5
and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to
the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

The period referred to in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC
shall be set at three months.

3.

The committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.

Article 15

Revision

1.
The Commission shall review EMAS in the light of the
experience gained during its operation and international
developments no later than five years after the entry into force
of this Regulation, and shall,
if necessary, propose to the
European Parliament and Council the appropriate amend-
ments.

2.
All the Annexes to this Regulation, with the exception
of Annex V, shall be adapted by the Commission, acting in
accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 14(2) in
the light of experience gained in the operation of EMAS and in
response to identified needs for guidance on EMAS require-
ments.

3.
The Commission shall in particular evaluate, in cooper-
ation with the Member States, no later than five years after the
entry into force of this Regulation, the use, recognition and
interpretation, especially by the public and other interested
parties, of the EMAS logo and assess whether there is a need
to revise the logo and the requirements for its use.

Article 16

Costs and fees

A system of

1.
fees in accordance with arrangements
established by Member States may be set up for the adminis-
trative costs incurred in connection with the registration
procedures for organisations and the accreditation and super-
vision of environmental verifiers and other related costs of
EMAS.

2. Member States shall
measures taken under this Article.

inform the Commission of the

Article 17

Repeal of Regulation (EEC) No 1836/93

Regulation (EEC) No 1836/93 shall be repealed as from
1.
the date of entry into force of this Regulation, subject to
paragraphs 2 to 5 of this Article.

National accreditation systems and competent bodies set
2.
up pursuant to Regulation (EEC) No 1836/93 shall modify the
procedures followed by accreditation systems and competent
bodies under the corresponding provisions of this Regulation.
these systems are fully
Member States shall ensure that
operational within 12 months of the date of entry into force
of this Regulation.

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3.
Environmental verifiers accredited in accordance with
Regulation (EEC) No 1836/93 may continue to perform their
activities in accordance with the requirements established by
this Regulation.

4.
Sites registered in accordance with Regulation (EEC)
No 1836/93 will remain on the EMAS register. The new
requirements of this Regulation shall be checked at the time of
the next verification of a site. If the next verification is to be
carried out sooner than six months after entry info 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.

5.
Paragraphs 3 and 4 shall also apply to environmental
verifiers accredited and sites registered in accordance with
Article 14 of Regulation (EEC) No 1836/93, provided that the
responsible accreditation bodies and competent bodies have
agreed that the environmental verifiers and registered sites
comply with all
the requirements of Regulation (EEC)
No 1836/93 and notify this to the Commission.

Article 18

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day
following its publication in the Official Journal of the European
Communities.

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

Done at ...

For the European Parliament

For the Council

The President

The President

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ANNEX I

A. Environmental management system requirements

The environmental management system shall be implemented according to section 4 of the EN/ISO 14001:1996
European standard for environmental management systems (1).

B. Issues to be addressed by organisations implementing EMAS

1. Legal compliance

Organisations shall be able to demonstrate that:

(a)

they have identified, and know the implications to the organisation of, all relevant environmental legislation;

(b)

they provide for legal compliance with environmental legislation;

(c)

they have procedures in place that enable the organisation to meet these requirements on an ongoing basis.

2. Performance

Organisations shall be able to demonstrate that the management system and the audit procedures address the
actual environmental performance of the organisation with respect to the aspects identified from Annex VI. The
performance of the organisation against its objectives and targets shall be evaluated as part of the management
review process. The organisation shall also commit itself to the continual improvement of its environmental
performance. In doing so, the organisation may base its action on local, regional and national environmental
programmes.

The means to achieve the objectives and targets cannot be environmental objectives.

If the organisation comprises one or more sites, each of the sites to which EMAS applies shall comply with all
the requirements of EMAS including the continual improvement of environmental performance as defined in
Article 2(b).

3. External communication and relations

Organisations shall be able to demonstrate an open dialogue with the public and other interested parties
including local communities and customers with regard to the environmental impact of their activities, products
and services in order to identify the public’s and other interested parties’ concerns.

4. Employee involvement

In addition to the requirements in Annex I, Section A employees shall be involved in the process aimed at
continually improving the organisation’s environmental performance. Appropriate forms of participation such
as the suggestion-book system or project-based group works on environmental committees could be used for
this purpose. Organisations shall take note of Commission guidance on best practice in this field.

(1) The full text of EN/ISO standard 14001:1996 will be inserted in this Annex as soon as the copyright agreement has been signed

between the Commission and CEN. The translations of the text of the standard will be those provided by CEN.

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ANNEX II

REQUIREMENTS CONCERNING INTERNAL ENVIRONMENTAL AUDITING

2.1. General requirements

Internal audits ensure that the activities carried out by an organisation are being conducted in accordance with
established procedures. The audit may also identify any problems with those established procedures or any
opportunities for improving those procedures. The scope of audits carried out within an organisation may vary
from the audit of a simple procedure to the audit of complex activities. Over a period of time all activities in a
particular organisation shall be subject to an audit. The period of time taken to complete audits of all activities is
known as the audit cycle. For small non-complex organisations, it may be possible to audit all activities at one
time. For these organisations the audit cycle is the interval between these audits.

Internal audits shall be carried out by persons sufficiently independent of the activity being audited to ensure an
impartial view. They may be carried out by employees of the organisation or by external parties (employees from
other organisations, employees from other parts of the same organisation or consultants).

2.2. Objectives

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

The objectives shall
conformity with the organisation’s policy and programme, which shall
environmental regulatory requirements.

in particular, assessing the management systems in place, and determining
include compliance with relevant

include,

2.3. Scope

The overall scope of the individual audits, or of each stage of an audit cycle where appropriate, shall be clearly
defined and shall explicitly specify the:

1.

subject areas covered;

2.

activities to be audited;

3.

environmental criteria to be considered;

4. period covered by the audit.

Environmental audit includes assessment of the factual data necessary to evaluate performance.

2.4. Organisation and resources

Environmental audits shall be performed by persons or groups of persons with appropriate knowledge of the
sectors and fields audited, including knowledge and experience on the relevant environmental, management,
technical and regulatory issues, and sufficient training and proficiency in the specific skills of auditing to achieve
the stated objectives. The resources and time allocated to the audit shall be commensurate with the scope and
objectives of the audit.

The top organisation management shall support the auditing.

The auditors shall be sufficiently independent of the activities they audit to make an objective and impartial
judgement.

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2.5. Planning and preparation for an audit

Each audit shall be planned and prepared with the objectives, in particular, of:

— ensuring the appropriate resources are allocated,

— ensuring that each individual involved in the audit process (including auditors, management, and staff)

understands his or her role and responsibilities.

Preparation shall
management system established there and review of the findings and conclusions of previous audits.

include familiarisation with activities of

the organisation and with the environmental

2.6. Audit activities

Audit activities shall include discussions with personnel, inspection of operating conditions and equipment and
reviewing of records, written procedures and other relevant documentation, with the objective of evaluating the
environmental performance of the activity being audited to determine whether it meets the applicable standards,
regulations or objectives and targets set and whether the system in place to manage environmental responsibilities
is effective and appropriate. Inter alia, spot-checking of compliance with these criteria should be used to
determine the effectiveness of the entire management system.

The following steps, in particular, shall be included in the audit process:

(a) understanding of the management systems;

(b) assessing strengths and weaknesses of the management systems;

(c) gathering relevant evidence;

(d) evaluating audit findings;

(e) preparing audit conclusions;

(f)

reporting audit findings and conclusions.

2.7. Reporting audit findings and conclusions

1. A written audit report of the appropriate form and content shall be prepared by the auditors to ensure full,
formal submission of the findings and conclusions of the audit, at the end of each audit and audit cycle.

The findings and conclusions of the audit shall be formally communicated to the top organisation
management.

2. The fundamental objectives of a written audit report are:

(a)

to document the scope of the audit;

(b)

to provide management with information on the state of compliance with the organisations’
environmental policy and the environmental progress at the organisation;

(c)

to provide management with information on the effectiveness and reliability of the arrangements for
monitoring environmental impacts of the organisation;

(d)

to demonstrate the need for corrective action, where appropriate.

2.8. Audit follow-up

The audit process shall culminate in the preparation and implementation of a plan of appropriate corrective
action.

Appropriate mechanisms shall be in place and in operation to ensure that the audit results are followed up.

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2.9. Audit frequency

The audit or audit cycle shall be completed, as appropriate, at intervals no greater than three years. The frequency
with which any activity is audited will vary depending on the:

(a) nature, scale and complexity of the activities;

(b) significance of associated environmental impacts;

(c)

importance and urgency of the problems detected by previous audits;

(d) history of environmental problems.

More complex activities with a more significant environmental impact shall be audited more frequently.

An organisation shall define its own audit programme and audit frequency taking account of Commission
guidance adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 14(2).

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ANNEX III

ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT

3.1. Introduction

The aim of the environmental statement is to provide environmental information to the public and other
interested parties regarding the environmental impact and performance of the organisation. It is also a vehicle to
address the stakeholder requirements identified as a result of Annex I, section B(3) and considered as significant
by the organisation (Annex VI, point 6.4 (d)). Environmental information shall be presented in a clear and
coherent manner in printed form for those who have no other means of obtaining this information. On its first
registration and every three years thereafter, the organisation is required to make available the information
detailed under point 3.2 in a consolidated printed version.

The Commission shall adopt guidance about the environmental statement in accordance with the procedure laid
down in Article 14(2).

3.2. Environmental statement

On its first registration an organisation shall produce environmental information, taking into account the criteria
of point 3.5 to be referred to as the environmental statement, to be validated by the environmental verifier. This
information shall be submitted to the competent body following validation, and then be made publicly available.
The environmental statement is a tool for communication and dialogue with the public and other interested
parties regarding environmental performance. The organisation shall consider the information needs of the
public and other interested parties when writing and designing the environmental statement.

The minimum requirements for this information shall be as follows:

(a) a clear and unambiguous description of the organisation registering under EMAS and a summary of its

activities, products and services and its relationship to any parent organisations as appropriate;

(b)

the environmental policy and brief description of the environmental management system of the organisation;

(c) a description of all the significant direct and indirect environmental aspects which result in significant
environmental impacts of the organisation and an explanation of the nature of the impacts as related to
these aspects (Annex VI);

(d) a description of the environmental objectives and targets in relation to the significant environmental aspects

and impacts;

(e) a summary of the data available on the performance of the organisation against its environmental objectives
and targets with respect to its significant environmental impacts. The summary may include figures on
pollutant emissions, waste generation, consumption of raw material, energy and water, noise as well as other
aspects indicated in Annex VI. The data should allow for year-by-year comparison to assess the development
of the environmental performance of the organisation;

(f) other factors regarding environmental performance including performance against legal provisions with

respect to their significant environmental impacts;

(g)

the name and accreditation number of the environmental verifier and the date of validation.

3.3. Criteria for environmental performance reporting

The raw data generated by an environmental management system will be used in a number of different ways to
show the environmental performance of an organisation. Organisations are encouraged to use environmental
performance indicators where appropriate. If an organisation uses environmental performance indicators (e.g.
energy usage per tonne of product), it shall ensure that any performance indicators it selects:

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(a) give an accurate appraisal of the organisations performance;

(b) are understandable and unambiguous;

(c) allow for year-on-year comparison to assess the development of the environmental performance of the

organisation;

(d) allow for comparison with sector, national or regional benchmarks as appropriate;

(e) allow for comparison with regulatory requirements as appropriate.

3.4. Maintenance of publicly available information

The organisation shall update the information detailed in point 3.2 and shall have any changes validated by an
environmental verifier, on a yearly basis. Deviations from the frequency with which updates shall be performed
may be made under circumstances laid down in Commission guidance adopted in accordance with the procedure
laid down in Article 14(2). After validation changes shall also be submitted to the competent body and be made
publicly available.

3.5. Publication of information

Organisations may wish to address different audiences or interested parties with the information generated by
its environmental management system and use only selected information from the environmental statement.
Any environmental information published by an organisation may bear the EMAS logo provided it has been
validated by an environmental verifier as being:

(a) accurate and non-deceptive;

(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,

and makes reference to the organisation’s latest environmental statement from which it was drawn.

3.6. Public availability

The information generated in point 3.2(a) to (g) which forms the environmental statement for an organisation
and the updated information specified in point 3.4 shall be available to the public and other interested parties.
To this end, organisations are encouraged to use all methods available (electronic publication, libraries, etc.). The
organisation shall be able to demonstrate to the environmental verifier that anybody interested in the
organisations environmental performance can easily and freely gain access to the information required in
point 3.2(a) to (g) and point 3.4.

3.7. Local accountability

Organisations registering under EMAS may wish to produce one corporate environmental statement covering a
number of different geographic locations. The intention of EMAS is to ensure local accountability and thus
organisations shall ensure that the significant environmental impacts of each site are clearly identified and
reported within the corporate statement.

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ANNEX IV

Logo

Version 1

Version 2

The logo may be used by an EMAS registered organisation in any of the 11 languages provided the following
wording is used:

Danish:

German:

Greek:

Spanish:

Finnish:

French:

Italian:

Dutch:

Version 1

Version 2

‘verificeret miljøledelse’

‘bekræftede oplysninger’

‘geprüftes Umweltmanagement’

‘geprüfte Information’

‘επιθεωρηµε΄νη περιβαλλοντικη΄ διαχει΄ριση’

‘επικυρωµε΄νες πληροφορι΄ες’

‘Gestio´ n ambiental verificada’

‘informacio´ n validada’

‘vahvistettu ympäristöasioiden hallinta’

‘vahvistettua tietoa’

‘Management environnemental vérifié’

‘information validée’

‘Gestione ambientale verificata’

‘informazione convalidata’

‘Geverifieerd milieuzorgsysteem’

‘gevalideerde informatie’

Portuguese:

‘Gesta˜o ambiental verificada’

‘informaça˜o validada’

Swedish:

‘Kontrollerat miljöledningssystem’

‘godkänd information’

Both versions of the logo shall always bear the registration number of the organisation.

— in three colours (Pantone No 355 Green; Pantone No 109 Yellow; Pantone No 286 Blue);

— in black on white or

— in white on black.

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ANNEX V

Accreditation, supervision and function of the environmental verifiers

5.1. General

The accreditation of environmental verifiers shall be based on the general principles of competence set out in
this Annex. Accreditation bodies may choose to accredit individuals, organisations or both, as environmental
verifiers. The procedural requirements and detailed criteria for accrediting environmental verifiers are defined
pursuant to Article 4 by national accreditation systems in accordance with these principles. Conformity with
these principles shall be ensured through the peer review process established by Article 4.

5.2. Requirements for the accreditation of environmental verifiers

5.2.1. The following competence constitutes the minimum requirements with which an environmental verifier,

individual or organisation, shall comply:

(a) knowledge and understanding of the Regulation, the general functioning of environmental management
systems, relevant standards and guidance issues by the Commission, under Articles 4 and 14(2), for the
use of this Regulation;

(b) knowledge and understanding of the legislative and regulatory requirements relevant to the activity subject

to verification;

(c) knowledge and understanding of environmental issues;

(d) knowledge and understanding of the technical aspects, relevant to environmental issues, of the activity

subject to verification;

(e) understanding of the general functioning of the activity subject to verification in order to assess the

appropriateness of the management system;

(f) knowledge and understanding of environmental auditing requirements and methodology;

(g) knowledge of information audit (environmental statement).

In addition, the environmental verifier shall be independent, in particular of the organisation’s auditor or
consultant, impartial and objective in performing his or her activities.

The individual environmental verifier or verification organisation shall ensure that he or she or the organisation
and its staff is free of any commercial, financial or other pressures which might influence their judgement or
endanger trust in their independence of judgement and integrity in relation to their activities, and that they
comply with any rules applicable in this respect.

The environmental verifier shall have documented methodologies and procedures, including quality control
mechanisms and confidentiality provisions, for the verification requirements of this Regulation.

In case the environmental verifier is an organisation, the environmental verifier shall have and make available
on request an organisation chart detailing structures and responsibilities within the organisation and a
statement of legal status, ownership and funding sources.

5.2.2. Scope of accreditation

The scope of accreditation of environmental verifiers shall be defined according to the classification of
economic activities (NACE codes) as established by Council Regulation (EEC) 3037/90 (1). The scope of
accreditation shall be limited by the competence of the environmental verifier. The scope of accreditation shall
also take into account the size and complexity of the activity, where appropriate; this will be assured through
supervision.

(1) OJ L 293, 24.10.1990, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation (EEC) No 761/93 (OJ L 83, 3.4.1993, p. 1).

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5.2.3. Additional requirements for the accreditation of individual environmental verifiers performing verifications on their own

Individual environmental verifiers performing verification on their own, in addition to complying with the
requirements of points 5.2.1 and 5.2.2 shall have:

— all the necessary competence to perform verifications, in their accredited fields,

— a limited scope of accreditation dependent on their personal competence.

Compliance with these requirements shall be ensured through the assessment carried out prior to the
accreditation and through the supervisory role of the accreditation body.

5.3.

Supervision of environmental verifiers

5.3.1. Supervision of environmental verifiers carried out by the accreditation body which granted their accreditation

The environmental verifier shall immediately inform the accreditation body of all changes which have a
bearing on the accreditation or its scope.

Provision shall be made, 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 verifications
undertaken. Supervision may consist of office audit, witnessing in organisations, questionnaires, review of
environmental statements validated by the environmental verifiers and review of verification report. It should
be proportionate with the activity undertaken by the environmental verifier.

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

5.3.2. Supervision of environmental verifiers performing verification activities in a Member State other than that where their

accreditation was granted

An environmental verifier accredited in one Member State, before performing verification activities in another
Member State, shall provide to the accreditation body of the latter Member State, at least four weeks in
advance, notification of:

— his or her accreditation details, competences and team composition if appropriate,

— when and where the verification will occur: address and contact details of the organisation, measures

taken to deal with legal and language knowledge if necessary.

The accreditation body may request further clarification of the necessary legal and language knowledge as
detailed above.

This notification shall be communicated before each new verification.

The accreditation body shall not require other conditions which would prejudice the right of the environmental
verifier to provide services in a Member State other than the one where accreditation was granted. In particular,
discriminatory fees for notification shall not be charged. The accreditation body shall also not use the
notification procedure to delay the arrival of the environmental verifier. Any difficulty to supervise the
environmental verifier on the date communicated shall be adequately justified. If costs for supervision arise,
the accreditation body is allowed to charge appropriate fees.

If the supervising accreditation body is not satisfied with the quality of the work done by the environmental
verifier, the supervision report shall be transmitted to the environmental verifier concerned, the accreditation
body which granted the accreditation, to the competent body where the organisation being verified is located
and, in case of any further dispute, to the forum of accreditation body.

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Organisations may not refuse the right of accreditation bodies to supervise the environmental verifier through
witnessed assessments during the verification process.

5.4. The function of environmental verifiers

5.4.1. The function of the environmental verifier is to check, without prejudice to the enforcement powers of

Member States in respect of regulatory requirements:

(a) compliance with all the requirements of this Regulation: initial environmental review if appropriate,
environmental management system, environmental audit and its results and the environmental statement;

(b)

the reliability, credibility and correctness of the data and information in:

— the environmental statement (Annex III, point 3.2 and point 3.3),

— environmental information to be validated (Annex III, point 3.4).

The environmental verifier shall, in particular, investigate in a sound professional manner, the technical
validity of the initial environmental review, if appropriate, or audit or other procedures carried out by the
organisation, without unnecessarily duplicating those procedures. Inter alia, the environmental verifier should
use spot-checks to determine whether the results of the internal audit are reliable.

5.4.2. At the time of the first verification, the environmental verifier shall, in particular, check that the following

requirements are met by the organisation:

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

(b) a fully planned audit programme, which has already begun in accordance with Annex II so that at least

areas with the most significant environmental impact have been covered;

(c) completion of one management review;

(d)

the preparation of an environmental statement in accordance with Annex III, point 3.2.

5.4.3. Legal compliance

The environmental verifier shall ensure that an organisation has procedures in place to control those aspects
of its operations subject to relevant Community or national laws and that these procedures are capable of
delivering compliance. The checks of the audit, shall in particular, provide for evidence of the capability of the
procedures in place to deliver legal compliance.

The environmental verifier shall not validate the environmental statement, if during the verification process
he observes, for example through spot-checks, that the organisation is not in legal compliance.

5.4.4. Organisation definition

When verifying the environmental management system and validating the environmental statement, the
environmental verifier shall ensure that the components of the organisation are unambiguously defined and
correspond to a real division of the activities. The content of the statement shall clearly cover the different
parts of the organisation to which EMAS applies.

5.5. Conditions for the environmental verifier to perform his/her activities

5.5.1. The environmental verifier shall operate within his/her scope of accreditation, on the basis of written
agreement with the organisation which defines the scope of the work, enables the environmental verifier to
operate in an independent professional manner and commits the organisation to providing the necessary
cooperation.

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5.5.2. The verification shall involve examination of documentation, a visit to the organisation including, in particular,
interviews with personnel, preparation of a report to the organisations’ management and the organisations’
solution of the issues raised by the report.

5.5.3. The documentation to be examined in advance of the visit shall

include basic information about the
organisation and activities there,
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.

the environmental policy and programme,

the description of

5.5.4. The environmental verifier shall prepare a report for the organisation’s management. This report shall specify:

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

(b)

the starting point of the organisation towards implementation of an environmental management system;

(c)

in general, cases of non-conformity with the provisions of this Regulation, and in particular:

— technical defects in the environmental review, or audit method, or environmental management

system, or any other relevant process,

— points of disagreement with the draft environmental statement, together with details of the

amendments or additions that should be made to the environmental statement,

(d)

the comparison with the previous statements and the performance assessment of the organisation.

5.6. Verification frequency

In consultation with the organisation the environmental verifier shall design a programme to ensure that all
elements required for registration with EMAS are verified in a period not exceeding 36 months. In addition
the environmental verifier shall, at intervals not exceeding 12 months, validate any updated information in
the environmental statement. Deviations from the frequency with which updates shall be performed may be
made under circumstances laid down in Commission guidance adopted in accordance with the procedure laid
down in Article 14(2).

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ANNEX VI

ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS

6.1. General

An organisation shall consider all environmental aspects of its activities, products and services and decide on
the basis of criteria, defined by the organisation, which of its environmental aspects have a significant impact,
as a basis for setting its environmental objectives and targets. These criteria shall be publicly available.

An organisation shall consider both direct and indirect environmental aspects of its activities, products and
services.

6.2. Direct environmental aspects

These cover the activities of an organisation over which it has management control and may include, but is
not limited to:

(a) emissions to air;

(b) releases to water;

(c) avoidance, recycling, reuse, transportation and disposal of solid and other wastes, particularly hazardous

wastes;

(d) use and contamination of land;

(e) use of natural resources and raw materials (including energy);

(f)

local-issues (noise, vibration, odour, dust, visual appearance, etc.);

(g)

transport issues (both for goods and services and employees);

(h) riskos of environmental accidents and impacts arising, or likely to arise, as consequences of incidents,

accidents and potential emergency situations;

(i)

effects on biodiversity.

6.3.

Indirect environmental aspects

As a result of the activities, products and services of an organisation there may be significant environmental
aspects over which it may not have full management control.

These may include, but are not limited to:

(a) product-related issues (design, development, packaging, transportation, use and waste recovery/disposal);

(b) capital investments, granting loans and insurance services;

(c) new markets;

(d) choice and composition of services (e.g. transport or the catering trade);

(e) administrative and planning decisions;

(f) product range compositions;

(g)

the environmental performance and practices of contractors, subcontractors and suppliers.

Organisations must be able to demonstrate that the significant environmental aspects associated with their
procurement procedures have been identified and that significant impacts associated with these aspects are
addressed within the management system. The organisation should endeavour to ensure that the suppliers
and those acting on the organisation’s behalf comply with the organisation’s environmental policy within the
remit of the activities carried out for the contract.

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In the case of these indirect environmental aspects, an organisation shall consider how much influence it can
have over these aspects, and what measures can be taken to reduce the impact.

6.4.

Significance

It is the responsibility of the organisation to define criteria for assessing the significance of the environmental
aspects of its activities, products and services, to determine which have a significant environmental impact.
The criteria developed by an organisation shall be comprehensive, capable of
independent checking,
reproducible and made publicly available.

Considerations in establishing the criteria for assessing the significance of an organisation’s environmental
aspects may include, but are not limited to:

(a)

(b)

information about the condition of the environment to identify activities, products and services of the
organisation that may have an environmental impact;

the organisation’s existing data on material and energy inputs, discharges, wastes and emissions in terms
of risk;

(c) view of interested parties;

(d) environmental activities of the organisation that are regulated;

(e) procurement activities;

(f) design, development, manufacturing, distribution, servicing, use, reuse, recycling and disposal of the

organisation’s products;

(g)

those activities of the organisation with the most significant environmental costs, and environmental
benefits.

In assessing the significance of the environmental impact of the organisation’s activities the organisation shall
think not only of normal operating conditions but also of start-up and shutdown conditions and of reasonably
foreseeable emergency conditions. Account shall be taken of past, present and planned activities.

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ANNEX VII

ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW

7.1. General

An organisation that has not supplied the necessary information needed to identify and assess the significant
environmental aspects according to Annex VI must establish its current position with regard to the
environment by means of a review. The aim should be to consider all environmental aspects of the organisation
as a basis for establishing the environmental management system.

7.2.

Requirements

The review should cover five key areas:

(a)

legislative, regulatory and other requirements to which the organisation subscribes;

(b) an identification of all environmental aspects with a significant environmental impact in accordance with
Annex VI, qualified and quantified as appropriate, and compiling a register of those identified as significant;

(c) a description of the criteria for assessing the significance of the environmental impact in accordance with

Annex VI, point 6.4;

(d) an examination of all existing environmental management practices and procedures;

(e) an evaluation of feedback from the investigation of previous incidents.

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ANNEX VIII

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Minimum requirements

Name of the organisation:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Address of the organisation:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Contact person:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

NACE code of activity:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Number of employees:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Name of the environmental verifier:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Accreditation number:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Scope of accreditation:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Date of the next environmental statement: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Name and contact details of the competent enforcement authority, or authorities, for the organisation:

. . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Done at

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,

. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2000

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Signature of the representative of the organisation

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STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL’S REASONS

I.

INTRODUCTION

1. On 3 November 1998 the Commission forwarded to Council a proposal for a Council Regulation
allowing voluntary participation by organisations in a Community eco-management and audit
scheme (EMAS), based on Article 130s(1) of the Treaty (Amsterdam Treaty: Article 175(1)).

2. The European Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee delivered their opinions on

15 April 1999 and on 26 May 1999 respectively.

3. The Committee of the Regions decided on 28 June 1999 not to deliver an opinion on this

proposal.

4. On 24 June 1999 the Commission forwarded to Council an amended proposal for a Regulation

of the European Parliament and of the Council on the abovementioned subject.

5. On 28 February 2000 the Council adopted its common position in accordance with Article 251

of the Treaty (former Article 189c).

II. OBJECTIVE

The Regulation aims to broaden the scope of the original EMAS scheme as established by Council
Regulation (EEC) No 1863/93 of 29 June 1993 by widening participation of interested organisations
from the industry sector to all economic sectors. By so doing, the Regulation is also intended to
increase the potential of EMAS to contribute to sustainable development and rationalise the
relationship between EMAS and the international standards now existing in the field of environmental
management.

It also intends to enhance the involvement of employees, increase the visibility of participation in
EMAS for business as well as the consistency of the implementation of EMAS across the Member
States.

III. ANALYSIS OF THE COMMON POSITION

A. AMENDED COMMISSION PROPOSAL

In its amended proposal the Commission accepted, in their entirety, in part or in principle, 18 of
the 59 amendments proposed by the European Parliament in the first reading.

A good number of the EP amendments accepted by the Commission were incorporated wholly,
partly or in principle in the common position.

Some further explanations for those amendments not accepted by Council are given below under
the relevant sections.

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B. MAIN CHANGES INTRODUCED BY COUNCIL

General comments

The following general comments concern terminological and editorial changes across the text of
the common position and are indicated here at the beginning for reasons of simplicity:

— the concept of ‘stakeholders’ has been replaced throughout the text with that of ‘interested
parties’ for reasons of compatibility with ISO 14001. A definition of interested parties has
therefore been inserted in Article 2;

— when mention is made to Commission guidance in the text, the adoption of these guidance
documents has been subject to the procedure laid down in Article 14 of the Regulation.

Preamble

The Preamble has been modified to bring it in line with the amended text of the common
position, to highlight the specificity of EMAS and to take into account some of the amendments
proposed by the European Parliament and accepted by the Commission in its amended proposal.

Amendments 4 (recital 14a) and 5 (recital 14c) of the European Parliament have not been retained
as the Council has estimated that their implications were not clear, neither with regard to the
incentives for organisations beyond the measures already provided for in this Regulation to
encourage the organisations’ participation in EMAS, nor with regard to the necessary structures
in the candidate countries since no special provision concerning such countries is contained in
this Regulation.

Article 1

This Article in the common position contains now greater emphasis on the active involvement of
employees, with an explicit reference to their training. Furthermore, the clause contained
previously in the last paragraph of this Article is now incorporated in the new Article 10.

Article 2

Main changes include the following:

— the definitions of ‘interested party’, ‘environmental performance’, ‘continual improvement of
environmental performance’ and ‘prevention of pollution’ have been added in line with ISO
140001 definitions,

— the definition of ‘environmental policy’ has been adapted so as to include the commitment to
continual improvement of environmental performance and to state more clearly that it ‘will
provide a framework for setting and reviewing environmental targets and objectives’,

— the definition of ‘environmental programme’ has been modified to better clarify its relationship

with environmental objectives and targets,

— the definition of ‘organisation’ has been amended to better clarify its link with the ‘site’ for

registration purposes,

— furthermore, the definition of ‘competent bodies’ has taken into account the amendment
proposed by the European Parliament and incorporated in the Commission amended
proposal.

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Article 3

The text has been modified in paragraph 2, concerning the maintenance of EMAS registration by
the organisations, where the common position provides for the possibility of deviations from the
frequency of yearly validated updates of the organisations’ environmental statements under
circumstances to be defined in Commission guidance.

Article 4

This Article has been reorganised in the common position. Main changes include:

— extension of the deadline by which the system shall be operational to 12 months following
the date of entry into force of the Regulation in order to give greater flexibility to the
organisations concerned given the enlarged scope of the Regulation,

— a simplified wording concerning the efforts to improve consistency of EMAS requirements
with regard to accreditation and supervision of environmental verifiers across Member States,

— reduced frequency with which the forum of the accreditation bodies shall meet (‘at least once

a year’),

— request to the Commission to forward the report of the peer review activities it receives also

to the Article 14 committee and to make the report publicly available.

Articles 5, 6 and 7

These Articles have been reorganised for reasons of greater clarity without substantial changes in
the common position.

In particular, the redrafting of Article 6 is intended to group together and make clearer the
conditions for registration, refusal of registration, suspension or deletion of organisations from
the register.

Article 8

The Article on the logo has been modified by the Council.

The Council has agreed on the EMAS logo as given in Annex IV. Further technical specifications
concerning the reproduction of the logo are left to the procedure laid down in Article 14 of the
Regulation. Article 8(2) lists the cases in which the use of the logo (and which version of the logo)
by organisations is allowed. In particular, the use of the EMAS logo on adverts for products,
activities and services, excluded in the Commission proposal, has been retained by the Council as
admissible only under circumstances to be defined in Commission guidance and provided that no
confusion with environment products labels is created. The same conditions apply to the use of
the logo on validated information as described in Annex III.

The Article also excludes the use of the logo in the cases listed in the subsequent paragraph 3.

It is however foreseen that the Commission shall, as part of the evaluation exercise undertaken
under Article 15 of the Regulation, consider under which exceptional circumstances the logo may
be used and subsequently adopt guidance texts, again ensuring that there is no confusion with
environment product labels.

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Article 10

This is a new Article introduced by the Council to cover the relationship with other Community
environmental legislation: it incorporates text previously contained in Article 1(1) and Article 10
of the Commission proposal (paragraph 2). Paragraph 2 is addressed to Member States that should
consider how registration to EMAS may be taken into account in implementing and enforcing
legislation in order to avoid unnecessary duplication of efforts by both the
environmental
organisations and the competent enforcement authorities. Member States are also requested to
inform the Commission of the measures taken in this regard.

Article 11

The common position incorporates, in the first paragraph, some of the amendments proposed by
the European Parliament with regard to this Article and all accepted by the Commission in its
amended proposal. As far as the proposed amendments not retained in the common position are
concerned, the Council has considered difficult to ensure their application in practice with regard
to the ‘non excessive burden’ and the ‘reasonable fees’. Measures to promote the participation of
organisations in EMAS, and in particular of SMEs, are dealt with in the whole Article 11 and costs
and fees relating to this Regulation are covered by Article 16 whereby a system of fees ‘in
accordance with modalities established by Member States’ is foreseen.

Some of the last paragraphs of this Article as contained in the Commission proposal are now in
Article 10 and in the Preamble (old paragraph 4) of the common position.

Article 11 of the Council text contains a new paragraph 2 that invites the EC institutions and other
public authorities to consider, without prejudice to Community law, how the registration to
EMAS may be taken into account when setting criteria for procurement policies as one of the
means to encourage organisations’ participation in EMAS.

Article 12

The Council has considered particularly important the provisions on information, given that one
of the objectives of the Regulation is to increase the visibility of the EMAS scheme. Article 12 has
been therefore strengthened by the Council by including in its paragraph 3 a request to the
Commission to examine, in consultation with the members of the Article 14 committee, the
possibility of disseminating best practice by appropriate ways and means.

Article 14

The Council has decided on a regulatory committee in accordance with the procedure laid down
in the new Decision 1999/468/EC adopted by the Council on 28 June 1999.

Article 15

The Article on the revision of the Regulation was modified by the Council with regard to:

— the new paragraph 2, which, for reasons of simplification, incorporates a large part of the text
previously in a separate Article concerning the Annexes to the Commission proposal
(Article 13). The modified text of the common position allows for adaptation of all Annexes
to the Regulation by the Commission in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article
14 of this Regulation, with the exception of Annex V concerning the accreditation, supervision
and function of the environmental verifiers,

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— the new paragraph 3, which provides for an evaluation by the Commission in cooperation with
the Member States no later than five years after the entry into force of the Regulation on ‘the
use, recognition and interpretation, especially by the public and other interested parties, of
the EMAS logo’ and an assessment of ‘whether there is a need to revise the logo and the
requirements for its use’.

Article 17

This Article has been modified in the common position as follows:

— paragraph 2: the deadline is brought in line with the new deadline of 12 months in Article 4,

— paragraph 4: a supplementary period of six months is given in certain cases to sites registered
under the current EMAS scheme to allow the shift to the new scheme introduced by this
Regulation,

— paragraph 5: sites outside the industry sector ‘experimentally’ registered under the current
EMAS scheme are now allowed to be registered under the new scheme, provided that comply
with all the requirements of this Regulation.

Article 18

The deadline for application has been removed in the common position in order to avoid
confusion as different provisions allow for different application deadlines in the Regulation.

Annexes

Annex I (Environmental management system requirements)

Main modifications in this Annex concern: (a) a clarification of the aspects related to the
organisation’s legal compliance measured against environmental legislation; (b) a reference to
organisation’s commitment to continual improvement of its environmental performance and the
reference to local, regional and national environmental programmes in this context and (c) the
obligation to comply with all EMAS requirements for each of the sites that an organisation may
constitute.

The incorporation of the text of the ISO standard EN 14001:1996 in this Annex will depend on
the conclusion of a copyright agreement between the Commission and CEN.

An additional section 4 concerning the involvement of employees and some practical modalities
for appropriate forms of employees’ participation reflects the amendments made in this regard to
Article 3 of the Regulation.

Annex II (Requirements concerning internal environmental auditing)

Apart from some editorial changes (point 2.3), the section on the audit frequency in the Council
text (point 2.9), specifically requires now that the audit or audit cycle be completed, as appropriate,
at intervals no longer than three years. The factors to be taken into account when determining
the frequency with which every activity is to be audited remain the same, as well as the principle
that more complex activities with a more significant environmental impact shall be audited more
frequently.

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Annex III (Environmental statement)

Main changes made by the Council include:

— section 3.1: more precise requirements with regard to the way in which environmental
information is presented to the public and other interested parties, the intent being to be able
to provide information in printed form to those that have no other means of obtaining such
information while at the same time not creating an excessive burden on organisations,

— section 3.2: the character of the environmental statement as a dialogue and communication
tool with the public and other interested parties has been emphasised, by incorporating in the
Council text an amendment of the European Parliament accepted by the Commission in its
amended proposal. The minimum requirements for the environmental statement have been
complemented and made more precise by the Council in line with the modified Annex VI, in
particular with regard to the relationship between environmental aspects and impacts and the
kind of data to be provided on the environmental performance of the organisation,

— section 3.3: the Council has estimated it useful to encourage organisations to make use of
environmental performance indicators where appropriate, and in those cases, criteria for
environmental performance reporting are given (they are unchanged with respect to the
Commission list with the exception of an adjustment to the criterion listed under (c)). The
rewording is in line in principle with the amendment of the European Parliament.

The numbering and sequence of sections has been reorganised by the Council.

Annex IV (Logo)

This Annex contains the EMAS logo, given in two versions (written part only), depending on the
specific circumstances for its use as detailed in Article 8 of this Regulation.

Annex V (Accreditation, supervision and function of the environmental verifiers)

Major changes made by the Council include:

the functioning of

— with regard to the requirements for accreditation (section 5.2): verifiers are requested to have a
the environmental management system;
general understanding of
furthermore, the independence of verifiers has been considered particularly important by the
Council and therefore further specifications are given to ensure it in practice; the competence
of the verifiers has been clearly indicated as one factor for defining the scope of the
accreditation; furthermore, compliance with the additional requirements set out in this Annex
shall be ensured also through the assessment carried out prior to accreditation,

— with regard to the supervision of verifiers (section 5.3): intervals for regular quality controls on the
verifiers and their activities are now extended to 24 months; as to the right of verifiers to
exercise their activities in other Member States it is now explicitly indicated that such right
should not be hampered by charging discriminatory fees for notification; it is additionally
foreseen that supervision can include witnessed assessments,

— with regard to the function of verifiers (section 5.4): the use of spot-checks by verifiers is foreseen

in order to check the reliability of the results of the internal audit,

— with regard to the verification frequency (section 5.6): the text has been brought in line with the
amended Article 3, which allows for deviations from the established frequency through
Commission guidance.

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Annex VI (Environmental aspects)

This Annex has been reorganised and modified by the Council.

The requirement for an organisation to consider both direct and indirect environmental aspects
of its activities, products and services, defined in terms of management control, has been made
more explicit. The relationship between environmental aspects and significant environmental
impacts for the purpose of setting the organisation’s objectives and targets has been further
developed with the intention of making it clearer throughout the text.

The list of direct environmental aspects has been complemented and broadened so as to include,
for instance, risks of environmental accidents and related impacts, as well as effects on biodiversity.
The list of indirect environmental aspects now cover also the ‘environmental performance and
practices of contractors, subcontractors and suppliers’. The section on significance (6.4) has been
reorganised and simplified, while not touching on the substance of the factors listed.

Annex VII (Initial environmental review)

This Annex has been adjusted following the modification of Annex VI and therefore considerably
shortened to avoid duplication.

Annex VIII (Registration information minimum requirements)

Only minor editorial changes.

The Commission has agreed to all changes made by the Council.