Regulation (EC) No. 761/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council allowing voluntary participation by organizations in a Community eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS)

The present Regulation has been enacted to establish a Community eco-management and audit scheme allowing voluntary participation by organizations, to be known as “EMAS”, for the evaluation and improvement of the environmental performance of organizations and the provision of relevant information to the public and other interested parties. The EMAS is intended to promote improvements in the environmental performance of organizations by: (a) the establishment and implementation of environmental management systems by organizations as described in Annex I; (b) the systematic, objective and periodic evaluation of the performance of such systems as described in Annex I; (c) the provision of information on environmental performance and an open dialogue with the public and other interested parties; (d) the active involvement of employees in the organization. For the purposes of these provisions, "organization" shall mean a company, corporation, firm, enterprise, authority or institution, or part or combination thereof, whether incorporated or not, public or private, that has its own functions and administrations. EMAS shall be open to the participation of any organization dedicated to improving its overall environmental performance. Article 6 deals with registration of organizations. The following Annexes are attached: (I) Environmental management system requirements; (II) Requirements concerning internal environmental auditing; (III) Environmental statement; (IV) Logo; (V) Accreditation, supervision and function of the environmental verifiers; (VI) Environmental aspects; (VII) Environmental review; (VIII) Registration information.