TABLE OF CONTENTS The European Commission's Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) came into force in 1995 as part of the European Community's policy to promote environmental sustainable development. At that time BS 7750 was operational in the UK, but there was no comparable scheme for the rest of Europe. EMAS fulfilled this function.
A number of organisations in the UK have sought assessment to EMAS, which, although initially limited to manufacturing activities and a few other sectors, is now available to any type of organisation.
The heart of an EMS is the Registers, Procedures, Manual, auditing, corrective and preventive action, improvement and management review. These are all contained in ISO 14001, and in 1997 the European Commission accepted ISO 14001 as meeting EMAS's requirements for these parts of an EMS.
The major differences between EMAS and ISO 14001 lie in the scope of the schemes and at the start and finish of the creation of the environmental management system (EMS):
EMAS is restricted to the European Union. ISO 14001 is international.
Whereas the guidance notes to ISO 14001 recommend that a preliminary review should be carried out, this Initial Review is mandatory under EMAS and must be written up. The Initial Review will be verified as part of the assessment to ensure that it is comprehensive and accurate.
When the environmental policy, objectives and targets and the management programme have been set, the organisation must produce an Environmental Statement. This must be written so that it can be...
