Step-by-step guide to EMAS

The European Commission has published new guidance for organisations interested in participating in the EMAS scheme

A new user’s guide setting out the steps organisations need to take to participate in EMAS – the EU eco-management and audit scheme – has been adopted by the European Commission and published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

The guide outlines the main elements and stages of the EMAS standard and registration process.

The commission says the new document aims to deliver clear, simple advice for those interested in the voluntary scheme and encourage more organisations to adopt the management system that was first developed for companies in industrial sectors in 1995. Since 2001, the scheme has been open to all organisations, both public and private.

The revised EMAS Regulation (1221/2009) came into force on 11 January 2010. Currently, more than 4,500 organisations, and about 7,800 sites are EMAS registered. By contrast, there were 267,457 environment management systems certified against ISO 14001 at the end of 2011.