Renewal of EMAS registration
1. A registered organisation shall at least on a three-yearly basis:
(a)
have the full environmental management system and audit programme and its implementation verified;
(b)
prepare the environmental statement in accordance with the requirements set out in Annex IV and have it validated by an environmental verifier;
(c)
forward the validated environmental statement to the Competent Body;
(d)
forward to the Competent Body a completed form, which includes at least the minimum information set out in Annex VI;
(e)
pay a fee for the renewal of the registration to the Competent Body, if applicable.
2. Without prejudice to paragraph 1, in the intervening years, a registered organisation shall:
(a)
in accordance with the audit programme, carry out an internal audit of its environmental performance and compliance with applicable legal requirements relating to the environment in accordance with Annex III;
(b)
prepare an updated environmental statement in accordance with the requirements laid down in Annex IV, and have it validated by an environmental verifier;
(c)
forward the validated updated environmental statement to the Competent Body;
(d)
forward to the Competent Body a completed form, which includes at least the minimum information set out in Annex VI;
(e)
pay a fee for the maintenance of the registration to the Competent Body, if applicable.
3. Registered organisations shall make their environmental statement and updated environmental statement accessible to the public within one month of registration and one month after the renewal of the registration is completed.
Registered organisations may satisfy that requirement by providing access to the environmental statement and the updated environmental statement upon request or by creating links to Internet sites where those statements can be accessed.
Registered organisations shall specify the way in which they provide public access in the form set out in Annex VI.
Derogation for small organisations
1. Competent Bodies shall, upon request of a small organisation, extend for that organisation the three-yearly frequency referred to in Article 6(1) up to four years or the annual frequency referred to in Article 6(2) up to two years, provided that the environmental verifier that has verified the organisation confirms that all the following conditions are met:
(a)
no significant environmental risks are present;
(b)
the organisation has no substantial changes planned as defined in Article 8, and
(c)
there exist no significant local environmental problems that the organisation contributes to.
To submit the request referred to in the first subparagraph, the organisation may use the form set out in Annex VI.
2. The Competent Body shall refuse the request if the conditions set out in paragraph 1 are not met. It shall communicate a reasoned justification to the organisation.
3. Organisations benefiting from an extension of up to two years, as referred to in paragraph 1, shall forward the non-validated updated environmental statement to the Competent Body each year that they are exempt from the obligation to have a validated updated environmental statement.
Substantial changes
1. Where a registered organisation plans to introduce substantial changes, the organisation shall carry out an environmental review of these changes, including their environmental aspects and impacts.
2. Following the environmental review of changes, the organisation shall update the initial environmental review, modify the environmental policy, the environmental programme and the environmental management system and revise and update the entire environmental statement accordingly.
3. All documents modified and updated pursuant to paragraph 2 shall be verified and validated within six months.
4. After validation, the organisation shall submit changes to the Competent Body using the form set out in Annex VI and make the changes publicly available.
Internal environmental audit
1. A registered organisation shall establish an audit programme that ensures that over a period of time, not exceeding three years or four years if the derogation provided for in Article 7 applies, all activities in the organisation are subject to an internal environmental audit in accordance with the requirements set out in Annex III.
2. The audit shall be carried out by auditors who possess, individually or collectively, the competence necessary for carrying out these tasks and are sufficiently independent of the activities they audit to make an objective judgment.
3. The organisation's environmental auditing programme shall define the objectives of each audit or audit cycle including the audit frequency for each activity.
4. A written audit report shall be prepared by the auditors at the end of each audit and audit cycle.
5. The auditor shall communicate the findings and conclusions of the audit to the organisation.
6. Following the audit process, the organisation shall prepare and implement an appropriate action plan.
7. The organisation shall put in place appropriate mechanisms that ensure that the audit results are followed up.
Use of the EMAS logo
1. Without prejudice to Article 35(2), the EMAS logo set out in Annex V may be used only by registered organisations and only as long as their registration is valid.
The logo shall always bear the registration number of the organisation.
2. The EMAS logo shall only be used in accordance with the technical specifications set out in Annex V.
3. In case an organisation chooses, in accordance with Article 3(2), not to include all its sites in the corporate registration, it shall ensure that in its communications with the public and in its use of the EMAS logo it is clear which sites are covered by the registration.
4. The EMAS logo shall not be used:
(a)
on products or their packaging; or
(b)
in conjunction with comparative claims concerning other activities and services or in a way that may create confusion with environmental product labels.
5. Any environmental information published by a registered organisation may bear the EMAS logo provided such information makes reference to the organisation's latest environmental statement or updated environmental statement from which it was drawn and it has been validated by an environmental verifier as being:
(a)
accurate;
(b)
substantiated and verifiable;
(c)
relevant and used in an appropriate context or setting;
(d)
representative of the overall environmental performance of the organisation;
(e)
unlikely to result in misinterpretation; and
(f)
significant in relation to the overall environmental impact.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
