Slovak Republic: Workshop Papers

Environmental Management Policy in the ISO 14000 Standard Series

Introduction

  The ISO 14000 standard series is a result of the former and outlines an effective body of standards for the realization of the Environmental Management System (EMS). The standard aims to provide enterprises with general principles as well as specific standards which can be applied to their business activities. These may be voluntarily adopted by any trade, manufacturing, or service organization.

The ISO 14000 Standard Series

• define the nature of the environmental impacts of its activity, products and services, and focus on their elimination
• express firm obligations to improve the state of the environment and prevent pollution
• express obligations to adhere to environmental legislation, as well as related factors it is obliged to fulfill
• set forth a system to develop and evaluate the success of its environmental objectives and plans
• register and implement the EMS system

  Selected standards from the ISO 14000 series are included in Table 1, which shows the basic extent to which enterprises may apply the EMS system.

Table 1: Selected standards from the ISO 14000 standard series

Standard	Environmental Management System (EMS)
ISO 14000	EMS - General directions for principles, systems and supporting methods
ISO 14001.2	EMS - Specifications with Directions for use
ISO 14040	Life Cycle Assessment - General Principles and Directions
ISO 14041	Life Cycle Assessment - General Analysis
ISO 14042	Life Cycle Assessment - Impact Assessment/Analysis
ISO 14043	Life Cycle Assessment - Improvement
ISO 14044	Life Cycle Assessment
ISO 14020	Environmental Labeling - General Principles for all Environmental Labeling
ISO 14021	Environmental Labeling - Self-declaration Environmental Claims - Terms and Definitions
ISO 14023	Environmental Labeling - Self-declaration Environmental Claims - Verification Methods

  As with ISO 9000, the ISO 14000 series impacts all the organizational, professional, and pre-processing activities of a given enterprise, in providing and implementing environmental obligations. The ISO 14000 EMS system is based on the following principles:

1. An enterprise must fulfill its obligations to the EMS system and its defined environmental strategy (i.e., policy).
2. An enterprise must draft plans on implementing its environmental policy.
3. For effective implementation of environmental policy, an enterprise must define and develop its abilities and the support mechanisms necessary to achieve its environmental policy aims.
4. An enterprise must measure, monitor and assess its results in environmental policy.
5. An enterprise must monitor and continually improve its EMS system with the aim of improving its overall results in environmental policy.

  As regards these principles, the EMS system is best viewed as an organizational system providing for the continuous monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of measures linked to environmental activities in harmony with internal and external changes.

The EMS System

• identification of legislative and restrictive measures
• identification of legislation with regard to environmental concerns, impacts, and commitments
• registration and evaluation of significant environmental impacts
• evaluation of the given enterprise's environmental performance relative to internal criteria, norms, restrictions and codes of practice
• application of existing knowledge with existing management and procedures in determining objectives, procedures and processes leading to the restructuring of business activities
• evaluation of knowledge and activities
• evaluation of the knowledge and activities of competitors
• evaluation of environmental performance by a third party

  The full extent of the enterprise's activities will also be considered during the assessment of the product life cycle and related services, and when assessing accident risks. The process and the results of the initial stock-take must be registered and analyzed so the public may have access to information regarding the implementation of the EMS system.

  At the same time, the enterprise, in defining its environmental policy, must look upon the activities of international, governmental, non-governmental, industrial and civic organizations to evaluate and form its own environmental policy. Each enterprise is responsible for its own environmental policy, and this is in their interest.

  The main principles of enterprise environmental policy are:

• enterprise mission, vision, and values Ð requirements, and communication with participating sites (customers, competition, conditions)
• commitment to permanent improvement
• relation to other 'organizational' policies (e.g., health protection, quality, worker safety, social policy)
• adaptation to specific local and regional conditions

  All business activities, products and services may have environmental consequences and the environmental policy is geared to deal with these consequences in a manner in accord with their estimated impact. The realization of environmental policy hinges on clear aims and objectives, based on measurable criteria and indicators of accomplishment within a specific time frame. The aims and objectives may be broadly worded, but may also be specifically directed to various levels of enterprise management and to the distinct phases of product life cycle and related services.

  The ISO 14000 standard series requires aims and objectives be periodically evaluated and reviewed with regard to the general environmental policy to ensure the continual upholding of internal and external restrictions, requirements and knowledge, while assuring continued permanent improvement. To achieve this, the given enterprise must coordinate the entire EMS system, with its organizational structure and resources, including the concentration and mobilization of human resources. Adequate human, physical, and financial resources must be accessible and defined to achieve and fulfill the aims and objectives of the given enterprise's environmental policy.

  Implementation of the EMS system enables many enterprises to approach a situation whereby trust and mutual benefit comes to characterize the relationship between management and workers.

  Implementation of environmental policy according to the ISO 14000 standard series corresponds with, but also differs in principle from the ISO 9000 series. Indeed, the ability of products and services to meet determined and assumed needs in advance acquires an entirely new dimension in the ISO 14000 series.