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EMAS: THE TOOL |
EMAS (ECO-MANAGEMENT AND AUDIT SCHEME) is a voluntary tool available for businesses and other organisations to monitor, report and improve their environmental performance. When the scheme was implemented via Regulation EEC 1836 in 1993, it was originally intended for industrial sites only. However, since its amendment by Regulation EC 761 in 2001, EMAS II now addresses all the economic sectors, including private & public services, with a focus on all organisational aspects.
The adoption of the new EMAS regulation should be seen as the re-introduction of an important instrument of environmental management within EU industrial policy, especially in the context of other, equally innovative measures, such as the Ecolabel for product certification or the IPPC, which provides an integrated approach to pollution control and prevention. Both Eco-label and EMAS are voluntary economic tools, conceived in 1992 under the FIFTH ENVIRONMENT ACTION PROGRAM. After the Rio Earth Summit, the Commission strove to activate market mechanisms that would complement traditional legislative measures, in order to support environmental behaviour both at the production level and at the sustainable consumption level.
The opening of EMAS to all organisations and services has helped to boost its visibility and, hence, its authority. Indeed, participants are now able to communicate their environmental performance better, and the new EMAS logo, which is becoming more and more widely recognised, is proving to be an excellent tool of simplified information.
An important goal is the adoption of EMAS by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and by craft enterprises. This is a crucial step towards the full diffusion of the scheme. For this purpose the Regulation explicitly invites Member States to adopt measures of incentive and support, including economic, for SMEs. |
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