EMAS-VERIFICATION
A company aspiring to become registered in the central EU register of “environmental friendly” companies within the EU (and in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) EMAS-register) is required to establish an environmental management system and develop an environmental statement which shall be subject to an environmental verification.
EMAS = Eco Management and Audit Scheme.
The environmental verification must be carried out by an accredited environmental verifier. Environmental verification includes an on-site visit to the company wanting EMAS registration.
EMAS is a voluntary scheme for companies willing to commit to map out and improve their environmental effort. EMAS was launched April 1995 and revised 2001 among other things to incorporate DS/EN ISO 14001(the international standard for environmental management) in its environmental management system. The EMAS regulation was revised again in 2009, where the European Scheme among other things was globalized.
The purpose with EMAS is to promote an ongoing improvement of the environmental effort and results of companies.
EMAS is more comprehensive than DS/EN ISO 14001 among other things because:
- A preliminary environmental review has to be carried out
- The company shall produce an environmental statement and commit to making up to date information available to the public and other stakeholders.
RULES AND REGULATIONS
Below, links or references to documents, valid for the specific schemes, are provided.
EXECUTIVE ORDERS
ACCREDITATION STANDARD
- DS/EN ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015, Conformity assessment – Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems - Part 1: Requirements’ og ISO/IEC.
- 17021-2:2018, Conformity assessment - requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems - Part 2: competence requirements for audit and certification of environmental management systems.
- Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009 of the European Parliament of the Council on the voluntary participation by organisations in a Community eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS)with related regulations from the Commission and guidance documents.
Following documents applicable for certification of environmental management systems can be used:
- EA documents for certification of management systems (EA-07/04);
- IAF Mandatory Documents (MD-series) for ISO 17021-1 (MD 4, MD 5);
ACCREDITATION REGULATIONS
- AB 1: General regulation for accreditation of companies
- AB 2:DANAK’s accreditation mark and reference to accreditation
- AB 8: Accreditation to environmental verification