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The first two in a series of ISO 14000 Environmental Management Standards was published last month. The new standard will help companies and organizations around the world to better manage their environmental affairs and demonstrate a commitment to environmental protection. The standards, which until now have been used by US business in draft form, provide guidance on environmental concerns and focus on environmental management tools and systems that can be integrated into the existing and ongoing operations of an organization. Both standards will be jointly sponsored by the American Society for Quality Control, ASTM, and NSF International, for approval by ANSI as American National Standards shortly after the ISO publication date.
The first two standards offer guidelines for environmental management systems. ISO 14001 is the core management systems specification document of the entire ISO 14000 series. It contains the required elements and criteria to be satisfied by an organization seeking certification of its environmental management system to a standard. To be ISO 14001 registered, an organization will have to demonstrate that its environmental management system meets all the specified criteria.
ISO 14004 provides guidelines which can be used by either a large organization trying to improve an existing environmental management system, or small and medium-sized enterprises beginning to establish an environmental management system. It contains examples, descriptions, and options to aid in the implementation and integration of the system into the overall management of the organization.
By relying on international standards, international trade barriers that result from conflicting national and regional environmental management standards can be avoided.
By December, three additional standards --ISO 14010 (principles of environmental auditing), ISO 14011 (auditing procedures), and ISO 14012 (qualification criteria for environmental auditors) -will be published.
It is anticipated that four additional ISO 14000 standards will be published in 1997. These standards will deal with environmental labels and declarations, product life cycle assessments, and environmental management terms and definitions.
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