The ISO 14000 series addresses environmental management systems,
environmental auditing, environmental labeling, environmental performance evaluation,
and life cycle assessment. These International standards are voluntary standards for
the establishment of a common worldwide approach to management systems that will lead
to the protection of the earth's environment while spurring international trade and
commerce. They will serve as tools to manage corporate environmental programs and
provide an internationally recognized framework to measure, evaluate, and audit these
programs. When implemented, these standards will ensure consistency in environmental
management practice, harmonize national environmental standards within an international
framework, simplify registrations, labeling and conflicting requirements, provide a
single system for all transnational subsidiaries, and offer guidelines for environmental
management excellence. Even though the standards do not prescribe performance levels,
performance improvements will invariably be achieved by any business if its commitment
to environmental care is emphasized and employees are trained and aware of the policies
in place to protect the environment. The ISO 14000 voluntary environmental management
standards and guidelines are intended to be practical, useful and usable for companies
or organizations of all sizes, in both manufacturing and service industries.
The standards basically are two types: guidance and specification. All the standards
except ISO 14001 are guidance standards. This means that they are descriptive documents,
rather than prescriptive requirements. A company or an organization does not register
to ISO 14000 as a series; it registers to ISO 14001, the specification standard that
is a model for an environmental management system. Classified according to their focus,
the standards fall into two categories.
ISO 14001 specifies the requirements for such an environmental management system.
Fulfilling these requirements demands objective evidence that can be audited to
demonstrate that the environmental management system is operating effectively in
conformance with the standard.
ISO 14004 provides guidelines on the elements of an environmental management system
and its implementation, and discusses principal issues involved.
Courtesy of ANSI
