ISO 14001 – EMASen

ISO 14001 is an internationally accredited standard which sets out the criteria for an Environmental Management System, and it can be used by any state organization or enterprise irrespectively of their size or business activity. ISO 14001 has been reviewed in 2004 in order to become more user-friendly and compatible to ISO 9001 and OHSAS 18001. It sets the environmental management requirements to help enterprises minimize environmental effect and constantly improve their environmental performance.

EMAS standard, under European regulation (EC) 1221/2009 of the European Parliament meeting on 25 November 2009, is related to the voluntary participation in the EC system of environmental management and audit scheme (EMAS). The scheme was initially established in 1995 following EEC Regulation No. 1836/1993. It was later supplemented by EC Regulation No. 761/2001 and has been recently updated by EC Regulation No. 1221/2009, valid since 11-01-2010.

Environmental Management systems exist to help all enterprises whose operations have an environmental impact (for instance, industry, tourism, public administration, constructions, and commercial activities).

The objectives of an Environmental Management System are to evaluate and upgrade environmental performance, by optimising production processes, reducing environmental impacts and increasing operating efficiency.

The implementation of EMAS provides significant benefits for all kind of enterprises, both in regards to internal operations as well as external relations. The benefits include:

• Enhance employee commitment, empowerment and motivation
• Improve the company’s image both among staff as well as externally (among customers, society, suppliers)
• Enhance risk management in relation to environmental issues, by complying with legislation, regulations and other environmentally oriented processes
• Energy and raw materials saving
• Cost efficiency
• Better communication with the regulatory authorities
• Setting business activity in line with environmental requirements
• Prevention of industrial accidents
• Competitive advantage for any future agreement with the state sector

Samaras and Associates Ltd. can provide a team of executives with long-term experience and expertise on environmental management issues; in addition, building on our group’s excellent ‘know-how’ on environmental studies, we are in a position to develop systems that will solve any crucial environmental problem and contribute significantly in resources saving for your company.