EMAS registration: the EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme

The EMAS Regulation "Eco-Management and Audit Scheme", Regulation (EC) No. 1221/2009 as amended, concerns the voluntary participation by organisations in a Community eco-management and audit scheme. The Regulation requires participating organisations to adopt environmental management systems (EMS) based on policies, programmes, procedures and objectives aimed at reducing their environmental impact, and to publish an environmental statement that reports on the environmental performance of their sites.

EMAS Registration

EMAS is a management tool developed by the European Commission for organisations that intend to assess, monitor and improve their environmental performance. The objective of EMAS is to promote continuous improvements in the environmental performance of organisations by:

  • ensuring that organisations introduce and implement an environmental management system;
  • information on environmental performance and open dialogue with the public and other interested parties through the publication of an environmental statement.

The environmental management system required by EMAS is based on ISO 14001 and thus includes all the same requirements, whereas open dialogue with the public is achieved by requiring organisations to publish an environmental statement, which must be kept up to date and must provide information and key data regarding the organisation’s environmental performance and impacts.

How to obtain EMAS registration

To obtain EMAS registration, an organisation must:

  • Conduct an environmental analysis by examining the environmental impacts of its activities;
  • Implement an environmental management system designed to achieve its environmental policy and attain its improvement targets;
  • Conduct an environmental audit to assess its environmental performance and the effectiveness of its management system against the organisation's policy, improvement targets and environmental programmes and against the applicable regulations;
  • Prepare an environmental statement, i.e. a document that describes the results achieved in relation to the environmental objectives set and indicates how the organisation intends to continuously improve its environmental performance;
  • Obtain verification from an accredited EMAS verifier (such as IMQ) which, after assessing the environmental analysis, the environmental management system, the audit and the environmental statement, validates the statement;
  • The environmental statement validated by the verifier must then be sent to the Ecolabel and Ecoaudit Committee, EMAS Italy section, together with the application for registration. Once it has obtained registration, the organisation receives a number that identifies it in the European register, is entitled to use the EMAS logo and must make its environmental statement available to the public.

IMQ is an accredited verifier No. IT-V-0017 for the verification and validation of environmental statements for the purposes of EMAS registration.

The benefits of EMAS registration

  • EMAS registration is an effective tool for environmental communication
  • It helps organisations keep control of their regulatory compliance
  • It reduces the risk of environmental accidents, thanks to proper management of the environmental impacts of the organisation's activities
  • It can help organisations obtain favourable economic and financial terms
  • It improves company image toward customers and suppliers alike (by use of the EMAS logo and of the environmental statement made available to the public)
  • It brings competitive advantages and may be specified as a prerequisite or preferential requirement in tender procedures.
 Certification for CSQ schemes is awarded to organisations that operate in accordance with the applicable standards. Certificates are valid for three years. The audits are planned on the basis of the customer’s requirements and in accordance with international standards. After the award of the certificate, the organisation undergoes periodic audits and an overall system review every three years. The auditors make on-site visits to organisations to analyse their ability to plan and manage their business processes. Management system certification is the endorsement enjoyed by organisations that have chosen to equip themselves with efficient management systems and suitable skills and structures, aimed at continuous improvement. And the higher the prestige of the awarding body, the higher the value of the guarantee. Equipped with state-of-the-art technology, our laboratories have full capability to put products through all the checks required by the major European directives and international standards. The certifications issued by IMQ are synonymous with trust. They guarantee safety, performance, efficiency and quality standards. More than 10,000 companies have turned to IMQ to certify their products and stand out on the market. Notified body for the main EU directives, IMQ offers tests and CE certifications to assess the conformity of the products to the requirements required to be marketed on the European market. Inspections and audits validate the conformity of electrical installations, equipment, supplies and services with the applicable technical and legislative specifications.