EMAS III 1221/2009i

EMAS is the abbreviation for the Eco Management and Audit Scheme, also known as the EU Eco Audit or Eco Audit. EMAS was developed by the European Union and is a community environmental management and inspection scheme for organisations that wish to improve their environmental performance. The EMAS regulation (Eco Audit regulation) attributes a decisive role to individual responsibility in the economy in the mastering of its direct and indirect effects on the environment. Companies, service providers, authorities, etc. can be certified, along with other types of organisations, including supranational organisations. EMAS is regarded as one of the so-called New Environmental Policy Instruments (NEPI’s).

An organisation participating in EMAS must publish an environmental declaration which includes reports on its environmental influence (direct or indirect), its operational environmental protection measures and its environmental objectives. The environmental declaration is examined by an independent expert subject to official state supervision to validate its correctness and should be updated on an annual basis. The environmental appraiser examines the environmental management system, adherence to environmental policy, the observance of legal provisions and a consolidated environmental declaration every 3 years at the latest in the context of so-called revalidation.

Organisations which successfully pass examination by the environmental appraiser can have themselves registered in the EMAS register (this is realised by the responsible chambers of industry and commerce and chambers of handicrafts in Germany) and are entitled to display the EMAS logo for their corporate environmental protection system.