# Organizations towards the Evaluation of Environmental Management Tools ISO 14001 and EMAS
## 2 Similarities and Differences between ISO 14001:2015 and EMAS Regulation  
The standard ISO 14001:2015 is developed by the International Organization for Standardization, which is non-governmental organization, whereas EMAS is issued by the European Union (Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009) [18]. Definitions according to ISO 14001:2015 and EMAS Regulation describe environmental management system are as follows:  
* ISO 14001:2015: \"Part of the management system used to manage environmental aspects, fulfil compliance obligations, and address risks and opportunities\" [17];
* EMAS: \"Part of the overall management system, that includes organizational structure, planning activities, responsibilities, practices, procedures, processes, and resources for developing, implementing, achieving, and maintaining the environmental policy and managing the environmental aspects\" [18]. Both systems are being improved and modified [34]. The official new version of ISO 14001 (ISO 14001:2015) was published in September 2015. This third edition [17] cancels and replaces the second edition ISO 14001:2004. Some of the changes introduced in standard ISO 14001:2015 bring it closer to EMAS. These changes take into account the lifecycle perspective when assessing the environmental aspects. No detailed lifecycle analysis is required, but the analysis of environmental aspects should cover the purchase of materials, design, production, transport and delivery, use, end-of-life treatment, and subsequent disposal (ISO 14001:2015, item A.6.1.2) [17]. In turn, the EMAS requirements take into account both direct and indirect environmental aspects more broadly than ISO 14001:2015 [35]. Selected differences between EMAS and ISO 14001:2015 are given in Table 1.  
In 2017, amendments were introduced to the annexes of EMAS (Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/1505 of 28 August 2017) [19] in order to adapt them to the new requirements of ISO 14001:2015. This means that for companies that already have an environmental management system compliant with ISO 14001:2015, it will also be easier to comply with EMAS [31]. It should be emphasized that both schemes are voluntary for organizations \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c} \hline \hline
**Elements** & **EMAS** & **ISO 14001:2015** \\ \hline Type of issued organization: & Governmental & Non-governmental \\ \hline Name of issued organization: & European Parliament and Council & \begin{tabular}{c} International Organization \\ for Standardization \\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline Objective: & \begin{tabular}{c} Environmental performance \\ improvement \\ \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c} Environmental performance enhancement \\ through EMS improvement \\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline Range: & European & International \\ \hline Nature: & Public regulation & Private standard \\ \hline Main drivers to adopt EMS: & Internal motivation & Pressure of external stakeholders \\ \hline Dialogue with external parties & Mandatory & Voluntary \\ (and external reporting): & & \\ \hline Official registration by & \begin{tabular}{c} Publicly accessible register record \\ (organization receives \\ the registration number) \\ \end{tabular} & No official register \\ \hline Audits: & \begin{tabular}{c} Inspection of documents and visits in \\ institutions carried out according to \\ regulation. Evaluation of environmental \\ performance improvement. Data from \\ environmental statement needs validation. \\ \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c} No certification rules in standard (different \\ standards for auditing and certification). \\ Evaluation of EMS performance without \\ specified frequency. \\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline Environmental aspects: & \
\begin{tabular}{c} Comprehensive initial environmental review \\ of the current status of activities, products \\ and services. \\ \end{tabular} &
\begin{tabular}{c} Requires only a procedure to identify \\ environmental aspects. Initial review is \\ recommended, but not required. \\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}