The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) is reviewing and revising ISO 14001 – the environmental management systems standard that is widely used by the private sector around the world and which is an accepted template for environmental compliance systems in the context of resolving enforcement actions. The proposed changes to ISO 14001 would have a significant impact on the 'installed base' of ISO 14001 environmental management systems, particularly at those facilities that wish to maintain their ISO 14001 certificates, which are verified through third-party auditing (approximately 10,000 in North America and 250,000 worldwide).
All ISO standards are subject to a nominal five-year review period. ISO 14001 was first published in 1996 and last revised in 2004. A committee draft of the upcoming revision to ISO 14001 was released for comment through the ISO process on March 7 2013. This draft includes more specific and prescriptive requirements – a departure from the existing standard which emphasises flexibility in identifying and managing environmental issues. The current effort is significantly influenced by the recently published ISO 26000 standard on social responsibility.
Salient features of the draft include increased emphasis on the following areas... read on by Christopher L Bell at: http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=316e669d-4433-41b2-a6ef-ae328be82717
