Determination of the Competent Body
1. Applications for registration from organisations in a Member State shall be made to a Competent Body in that Member State.
2. An organisation with sites located in one or more Member States or third countries may apply for one single corporate registration of all or some of those sites.
Applications for a single corporate registration shall be made to a Competent Body of the Member State where the organisation's headquarters or management centre designated for the purpose of this paragraph is located.
3. Applications for registration from organisations outside the Community, including corporate registration consisting only of sites located outside the Community, shall be made to any Competent Body in those Member States that provide for the registration of organisations from outside the Community in accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 11(1).
Those organisations shall ensure that the environmental verifier which will carry out the verification and validate the environmental management system of the organisation is accredited or licensed in the Member State where the organisation applies for registration.
Preparation for registration
1. Organisations wishing to be registered for the first time shall:
(a)
carry out an environmental review of all environmental aspects of the organisation in accordance with the requirements set out in Annex I and in point A.3.1 of Annex II;
(b)
in the light of the results of the environmental review, develop and implement an environmental management system covering all the requirements referred to in Annex II, and, where available, taking into account the best environmental management practice for the relevant sector referred to in Article 46(1)(a);
(c)
carry out an internal audit in accordance with the requirements set out in point A.5.5 of Annex II and Annex III;
(d)
prepare an environmental statement, in accordance with Annex IV. Where sectoral reference documents as referred to in Article 46 are available for the specific sector, the assessment of the organisation's environmental performance shall take into account the relevant document.
2. Organisations may use the assistance referred to in Article 32 that is available in the Member State where the organisation applies for registration.
3. Organisations which have a certified environmental management system, recognised in accordance with Article 45(4), shall not be obliged to carry out those parts which have been recognised as equivalent to this Regulation.
4. Organisations shall provide material or documentary evidence showing that the organisation complies with all applicable legal requirements relating to the environment.
Organisations may request information from the competent enforcement authority or authorities in accordance with Article 32 or the environmental verifier.
Organisations outside the Community shall also make reference to the legal requirements relating to the environment applicable to similar organisations in the Member States where they intend to submit an application.
Where sectoral reference documents as referred to in Article 46 are available for the specific sector, the assessment of the organisation's environmental performance shall be made with reference to the relevant document.
5. The initial environmental review, the environment management system, the audit procedure and its implementation shall be verified by an accredited or licensed environmental verifier and the environmental statement shall be validated by that verifier.
Application for registration
1. Any organisation meeting requirements set out in Article 4 may apply for registration.
2. The application for registration shall be made to the Competent Body determined in accordance with Article 3 and shall include the following:
(a)
the validated environmental statement in electronic or printed form;
(b)
the declaration as referred to in Article 25(9), signed by the environmental verifier which validated the environmental statement;
(c)
a completed form, which includes at least the minimum information on as set out in Annex VI;
(d)
evidence of payment of applicable fees, if applicable.
3. The application shall be written in (one of) the official language(s) of the Member State in which the organisation applies for registration.
