By Poul Buch Jensen Mr. Jensen represents INEM in ISO TC 207/SC 2, which developed ISO 14015: Environmental assessment of sites and organizations (EASO), and in a Working Group of ISO/TC 207/SC2, which is preparing ISO 19011: Guidelines on Quality and Environmental Management Systems Auditing.

Illustrations adapted from Svend Fritjy Andersson

Preface, Scope

How Environmental Management Standards are Prepared

Overview of the ISO 14000 Family

Environmental Management Systems

Environmental Auditing

Environmental labelling

Environmental Performance Evaluation

Life Cycle Assessment

Environmental Management Vocabulary

Environmental Aspects in Product Standards

Structure of ISO 14001

Abbreviations used in the Standards

Opinions expressed in this article are those of Mr. Jensen and not necessarily those of INEM or ISO/TC 207.
Last updated on 20 November 2001.

The ISO 14000 family of environmental management standards, according to the present plan, comprises 23 individual standards, guidelines and technical reports related to environmental management in a company's environmental management system (EMS). Consequently, they cover all areas of environmental significance. Companies will thus be able to use the standards in connection with activities offering:

• Savings when improving environmental conditions;
  
  
• Increased sales by presenting an environmental responsible behavior towards the customers;
  
  
• Marketing advantages by offering the customers the cooperation with a subcontractor/contractor that demonstrate competence in environmental management - possibly substantiated by an environmental management certificate.

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The International Organization for Standardization's Technical Committee 207 (ISO/TC 207) prepares environmental management standards in working group activities in subcommittees. Subcommittee members are representatives from the national committees. The standards are developed in phases as diagrammed and described below.

Phase 1: Selection of Work Item. National Committees can propose new Work Items (WI). All Work Items in ISO/TC 207 are registered and published in yearly ISO reports.

Phase 2: Preparation of Working Draft. Working Drafts (WD) are prepared by the working groups of the subcommittees. National committees, participating with experts, receive all prepared Committee Drafts from the relevant ISO Technical Committees.

Phase 3: Committee Approval of Working Draft. A vote is taken in ISO/TC 207 on the Working Draft. Representatives of national organizations are Participating Members and thus entitled to vote. If approved, it becomes a Committee Draft. Representatives of national organizations are Participating Members and thus entitled to vote. The vote is conducted after national hearings, i.e. publication of the Committee Draft for comments to the proposed standard. Approval of the Draft Standard requires at least a 2/3 majority of Participating Members and a 3/4 majority of all ISO member countries (Participating Members + others). The national committees prepare the national responses to ISO/TC 207. More votes may be required if the hearings result in significant amendments.

Phase 4: Ratification by all ISO members. The approved Committee Draft is then sent to all ISO members for ratification as a Draft International Standard (DIS). The voting period is six months.

Phase 5: Final confirmation. "En route" is a further affirming vote. Following approval by the national ISO member countries, the document is called a Final Draft International Standard (FDIS).

Phase 6: Publication of the ISO Standard. The approved standard is published in Geneva in the official ISO languages: English, French and Russian.

Phase 7: Publication in languages other than English, French and Russian. The national committees will participate in the translation of the standard into their national languages. The standard will subsequently be published as national standards.

Note - For the current 18 member countries of either the European Union or EFTA, the European Commission has decided to substitute technical documentation in directives with references to standards. Comité Européen de Normalisation (CEN) regulations stipulate that European standards (EN) predominate in the member countries.

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The following chart presents the ISO 14000 family of environmental management standards and names the ISO/TC 207 subcommittees responsible for preparing them. Please visit the official ISO/TC 207 website for information on the current status of the individual ISO 14000 standards.

Source: QA-061\6th Edition\2000-02-20 © BJQM ApS

The ISO 14000 family may be categorized into seven major groups as shown in the chart below. A description of each standard, by group, follows.

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Scope: This International Standard specifies requirements for an environmental management system, to enable an organization to formulate a policy and objectives taking into account legislative requirements and information about significant environmental impacts. It applies to those environmental aspects which the organization can control and over which it can be expected to have an influence. It does not itself state specific environmental performance criteria.

This International Standard is applicable to any organization that wishes to

All the requirements in this International Standard are intended to be incorporated into any environmental management system. The extent of the application will depend on such factors as the environmental policy of the organization, the nature of its activities and the conditions in which it operates. This International Standard also provides, in Annex A, informative guidance on the use of the specification.

The scope of any ISO 14001 application must be clearly identified.

Note - For ease of use, the subclause of the specification and Annex A have related numbers; thus, for example, 4.3.3 and A.4.3.3 both deal with environmental objectives and targets, and 4.5.4 and A.4.5.4 both deal with environmental system audit.

Scope: This International Standard provides guidance on the development and implementation of environmental management systems and principles, and their coordination with other management systems.

The guidelines in this International Standard are applicable to any organization, regardless of size, type or level of maturity, that is interested in developing, implementing and/or improving an environmental mangement system.

The guidelines are intended for use as a voluntary, internal management tool and are not intended to be used as EMS certification/registration criteria.

Revision of ISO 14004.

Scope: See ISO 14004.

Scope: Informative reference material to assist forestry organizations in the use of ISO 14001 and ISO 14004 environmental management system standards.

Informative reference material to assist forestry organizations in the use of ISO 14001 and ISO 14004 environmental management system standards.

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Scope: This International Standard provides the general principles of environmental auditing that are applicable to all types of environmental audits. Any activity defined as an environmental audit in accordance with this International Standard should satisfy the recommendations given in it.

Scope: This International Standard establishes audit procedures that provide for the planning and conduct of an audit of an EMS to determine conformance with EMS audit criteria.

Scope: This International Standard provides guidance on qualification criteria for environmental auditors and lead auditors and is applicable to both internal and external auditors. Criteria for the selection and composition of audit teams are not included, reference is made to ISO 14011 for information on these subjects.

Note - This International Standard has been developed in parallel with the development of ISO standards on general principles of environmental auditing (ISO 14010) and on guidelines for auditing of environmental management systems (ISO 14011) specifically. It may require revision, if and when ISO develops detailed guidance on other types of environmental audits.

Scope: This International Standard provides guidance on how to conduct an EASO through a systematic process of identifying environmental aspects and environmental issues and determining, if appropriate, their business consequences.

This International Standard covers the roles and responsibilities of the parties to the assessment (the client, the assessor and the representative of the assessee), and the stages of the assessment process (planning, information gathering and validation, evaluation and reporting). The process for conducting an EASO is shown in Figure 1.

This International Standard does not provide guidance on how to conduct other types of environmental assessment, such as:

a) initial environmental reviews;

b) environmental audits (including environmental management system and regulatory compliance audits);

c) environmental impact assessments; or

d) environmental performance evalutions.

Intrusive investigations and site remediation, as well as the decision to proceed with them, are outside the scope of this International Standard.

This International Standard is not intended for use as a specification standard for certification or registration purposes or for the establishment of environmental management system requirements.

Use of this International Standard does not imply that other standards and legislation are imposed on the client or the assessee.

Figure 1 - Process for conducting an Environmental Assessment of Sites and Organizations

NOTE - The numbers between brackets refer to (sub)clauses in this International Standard. The dashed lines indicate that the assessee is not necessarily involved in an EASO as described in this International Standard (see not to 3.2)

Scope: This International Standard provides guidance on the principles of auditing, the management of audit programs, the conduct of quality management system audits and environmental management system audits as well as the competence of quality and environmental management system auditors.

It is applicable to all organizations having a need to conduct and manage internal or external quality and/or environmental management system audits.

The application of this International Standard to other types of audits is possible in principle but special consideration should be paid to defining the competence needed by the audit team members in such cases.

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Scope: This International Standard establishes guiding principles for the development and use of environmental labels and declarations. It is intended that other applicable standards in the ISO 14020 series be used in conjunction with this International Standard.

This International Standard is not intended for use as a specification for certification and registration purposes.

Note - Other International Standards in the series are intended to be consistent with the principles set forth in this International Standard. Other standards currently in the ISO 14020 series are ISO 14021, ISO 14024 and ISO/TR 14025.

Scope: This International Standard specifies requirements for self-declared environmental claims, including symbols, regarding products. It further describes selected terms commonly used in environmental claims and gives qualifications for their use. This standard also describes a general evaluation and verification methodology for self-declared environmental claims and specific evaluation and verification methods for the selected claims in this standard.

The standard does not preclude, override, or in any way change, legally required environmental information, claims or labelling, or any other applicable legal requirements.

Scope: This International Standard contains guiding principles and practices, criteria procedures and guidance for certification procedures for the development of multiple criteria-based, third party environmental labelling programs (Type I). It is intended to provide practitioners and stakeholders with a reference document ensuring the credibility and nondiscriminatory nature of the program.

This International Standard aims at reducing environmental burden by promoting market-driven demand for and supply of product meeting a multiple-criteria based environmental labelling program, verified by a third party.

Scope: This Technical Report identifies and describes elements and issues concerning Type III environmental declarations and corresponding programmes, including technical considerations, declaration format and communication, and adminstrative considerations for developing and/or issuing a Type III environmental declaration.

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Scope: This International Standard gives guidance on the design and use of environmental performance evaluation within an organization. It is applicable to all organizations, regardless of type, size, location and complexity.

This International Standard does not establish environmental performance levels. It is not intended for use as a specification standard for certification or registration purposes or for the establishment of any other environmental management system conformance requirements.

Scope: This document provides examples from real organizations to illustrate the use of the guidance in ISO 14031.

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Scope: This International Standard specifies the general framework, principles and requirements for conducting and reporting life cycle assessment studies. This International Standard does not describe the life cycle assessment technique in detail.

Scope: This International Standard in addition to ISO 14040 specifies the requirements and the procedures necessary for the compilation and preparation of the definition of goal and scope for a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), and for performing, interpreting and reporting a Life Cycle Inventory analysis (LCI).

Scope: This International Standard describes and gives guidance on a general framework for the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) phase of life cycle assessment (LCA), and the key features and inherent limitations of LCIA. It specifies requirements for conducting the LCIA phase and the relationship of LCIA to the LCA phases.

Scope: This International Standard provides requirements and recommendations for conducting the life cycle interpretation phase in LCA or LCI studies.

This International Standard does not describe specific methodologies for the life cycle interpretation phase of LCA and LCI studies.

Scope: Not yet available.

Scope: This document provides information regarding the formatting of data to support life cycle assessment.

Scope: This Technical Report provides examples about practices in carrying out a Life Cycle Inventory analysis (LCI) as a means of satisfying certain provisions of ISO 14041. These examples are only a sample of the possible cases satisfying the provisions of the standard. They should be read as offering a way or ways rather than the unique way of applying the standard. Also they reflect only certain portions of an LCI study.

It should be noted that the examples presented in this Technical Report are not exclusive and that many other examples exist to illustrate the methodological issues described. The examples are only portions of a complete LCI study.

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Scope: This International Standard contains definitions of fundamental terms related to environmental management, published in the ISO 14000 series of standards.

Scope: See ISO 14050.

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Scope: Not yet available.

Scope: This Guide covers the consideration of environmental impacts in product standards. It is intended for standard writers; its purpose is:

1. to raise awareness that provisions in product standards can affect the environment in both negative and positive ways;
   
   
2. to outline the relationship between product standards and the environment;
   
   
3. to help avoid provisions in product standards that may lead to adverse environmental impacts;
   
   
4. to emphasize that addressing environmental aspects during the development of product standards is a complex process and requires balancing competing priorities; and
   
   
5. to recommend the use of life-cycle thinking and recognized scientific techniques when addressing environmental aspects of a product being standardized.

In order to achieve the purposes listed under Scope, this Guide:

1. sets forth some general considerations that should be taken into account when developing product standards that achieve a proper balance between product function and environmental impacts;
   
   
2. outlines ways in which provisions in product standards may affect the environment during the stages of a product's life cycle;
   
   
3. addresses techniques for identifying and assessing the environmental impacts of provisions in product standards;
   
   
4. highlights some ways to reduce adverse environmental impacts resulting from provisions in product standards.

To reflect the diversity of environmental effects that products can have, this Guide may need to be supplemented with sectional guides.

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ISO 14001 has a clear and logical structure which covers the following:

1. Scope
   
   
2. Normative references
   
   
3. Definitions
   
   
4. Environmental management system requirements

   4.1 General requirements
   4.2 Environmental policy
   4.3 Planning
   4.4 Implementation and operation
   4.5 Checking and corrective action
   4.6 Management review

Annex A: Guidance on the use of the specification

Annex B: Links between ISO 14001 and ISO 9001

Annex C: Bibliography

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AWI = Approved Working Item

CD = Committee Draft. A CD is published in order to conduct a CD-voting.

CD-voting = The national organizations (e.g., British Standards Institute), which are P-members (participation members) and thus entitled to vote, will cast their votes concerning the CD. A 2/3 majority is required for the approval of a Committee Draft (CD). When the Committee Draft is approved, it becomes a DIS (see: "DIS"), which is then sent out for voting in all member countries.

CEN = Comité Européen de Normalisation

CENELEC = Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique

DIS = Draft International Standard. Draft for an International Standard, approved in a relevant technical committee, and sent out for voting in all ISO member countries. When approved by voting, the DIS becomes an IS.

EN = European standard. It is expected that all the standards in the ISO 14000 family will be approved as ENs.

FDIS = Final Draft International Standard

IEC = International Electrotechnical Commission

IS = International Standard

ISO = International Organization for Standardization

JWG = Joint Working Group. Here, ISO/TC 207 (Environmental Management) and ISO/TC 176 (Quality Management), which is preparing ISO 19011: Guidelines on Quality and Environmental Auditing.

LCA = Life Cycle Assessment

LCI = Life Cycle Inventory analysis

LCIA = Life Cycle Impact Assessment

NP = New Work Item Proposal

P-members = (P = Participating) National organizations, participating in the preparation and voting on the Committee Drafts (CD) - prior to the voting in all the ISO member countries.

prEN = Draft (project) for European Standard published for voting amongst the CEN members.

SC = Sub Committee to a Technical Committee

TC = Technical Committee in ISO (e.g., ISO/TC 207 = Environmental Management, ISO/TC 176 = Quality Management)

TR = Technical Report

WD = Working Draft

WG = Working Group

WI = Work Item

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Poul Buch Jensen is director of the consulting firm Buch Jensen Quality Management ApS in Denmark, with more than 25 years of experience in the quality management field, and author of numerous articles and books on implementation of ISO 9000 and ISO 14001. He is a Liaison A member of ISO TC 207 (Environmental Management Standards) and a member of the American Society of Quality Control. Mr. Jensen is a certified quality assessor and the former manager for systems certification in the Danish Standards Association.

Contact:

Buch Jensen Quality Management ApS
Alfarvejen 30 - Osted
DK-4000 Roskilde
Denmark

Tel.: +45-4649-8044
Fax: +45-4649-8233
Email: poul@buchjensen.dk
Home Page: http://www.buchjensen.dk/

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