What does EMAS require?

The verifier has to audit and verify that the organisation's EMS and environmental statement conform to the EMAS Regulation's requirements.

The verification is carried out by examining documents, visiting the organisation and interviewing personnel. The verification programme will be mainly focused on:

• Compliance with environmental laws and regulations
• Significance of the organisation’s direct and indirect aspects and impacts
• Environmental policy and performance
• Involvement of workers
• Reliability of information in the environmental statement
• Effective operation of the EMS

Following the first verification, EMAS requires the verifier in conjunction with the organisation to design and agree a verification programme covering a period of no more than 36 months. Following the first validation of the environmental statement, EMAS also requires that the information shall be updated annually and that any changes shall be validated annually, except in certain circumstances.

Logo use Registered organisations can use the EMAS logo as part of their environmental communications and marketing strategies, but to avoid confusion with ecolabels, the EMAS logo must not be used on the organisation's products.

The European Commission has published a 'Guidance on verification, validation and audit frequency' and a 'Guidance to verifiers on verification of small and medium companies' which gives a lot of useful of examples. These documents can be downloaded at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/emas/documents/guidance_en.htm

Download Capire EMAS: La linea guida sull'uso del logo EMAS, a guide on EMAS logo use in Italian.

Download Marketing and Promoting your Environmental Achievements with EMAS - UK Guidance on the use of the EMAS logo