EMAS Conferences in the new Member States
In the framework of the EU-funded project « EMAS Conferences in the new Member States » INEM and its partner organisations have organised 6 conferences around EMAS and translated and adapted a guidebook, the EMAS 2000 brochure, to promote the uptake of EMAS in Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithaunia, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland.
In the framework of the EU-funded project, EMAS Capacity Building in the new Member States, INEM and its partner organisations have translated and adapted a guidebook to promote the uptake of EMAS in Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithaunia and Poland.
This 20-page publication provides a brief overview of environmental management concepts and tools, economic and other benefits of environmental management systems, plus a step-by-step guide to implementing an EMS and obtaining EMAS registration.
The original version of the Guide was developed for the countries of Southern Europe by the International Network for Environmental Management (INEM), the world federation of national associations for the advancement of environmental management. It has been published in the Greek, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Basque languages.
Each version of the Guide has been adapted to the target country's circumstances and includes examples from local industry. The Hungarian guide was commissioned by the City of Miskolc, and made possible by the Phare Programme of the European Union.
The views presented are opinions of the authors, and by no means should be interpreted as the official position of the European Commission.
PDF versions of the Estonian, Polish and Hungarian guides are available for download. The Hungarian version is in English, the others in the national language.
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| Download Estonian version (in Estonian, PDF 3.2 mb) | Download Polish version (in Polish, PDF 1.5 mb) | Download Hungarian version (in English, PDF 1.3 mb) |
Introduction and background to the project
After the accession of the new Member States into the European Union on the first of May 2004, all legal obligations that are imposed to the Member States of the European Union have to come into force, which means that all legal requirements of the EMAS regulation have now to be fulfilled.
However, in order to fully comply with this regulation, the commission recognises that there is a need for strong support to the new Member States in terms of practical capacity building in order to transform the implementation of the EMAS regulation into a true success story for the improvement of environmental performance in the organisations of these new Member States. Under the EMAS regulation, it is also an obligation for the Commission to provide support to member countries in setting up the necessary structures for the application of EMAS and the promotion of the EMAS regulation.
Therefore the Commission has initiated the project "EMAS Capacity Building in the new Member States". The aim of the project is to provide support to the implementation of the EMAS Regulation in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Hungary by promoting the Community EMAS Scheme and building capacity for the application of the EMAS.
The project provides support in terms of practical capacity building of EMAS implementation in these new Member States in particular regarding small and medium-sized organisations and enterprises (SMEs).