Designation and role of Competent Bodies
1. Member States shall designate Competent Bodies, which shall be responsible for the registration of organisations located in the Community in accordance with this Regulation.
Member States may provide that the Competent Bodies they designate provide for and shall be responsible for the registration of organisations located outside the Community in accordance with this Regulation.
The Competent Bodies shall control the entry and maintenance of organisations on the register, including suspension and deletion.
2. The Competent Bodies may be national, regional or local.
3. The composition of the Competent Bodies shall guarantee their independence and neutrality.
4. The Competent Bodies shall have the appropriate resources, both financial and in terms of personnel, for the proper performance of their tasks.
5. The Competent Bodies shall apply this Regulation in a consistent manner and shall participate in regular peer evaluation as set out in Article 17.
Obligations concerning the registration process
1. Competent Bodies shall establish procedures for the registration of organisations. They shall in particular establish rules for:
(a)
considering observations from interested parties, including Accreditation and Licensing Bodies and competent enforcement authorities and the organisations’ representative bodies, concerning applicant or registered organisations;
(b)
refusal of registration, suspension or deletion of organisations, and
(c)
resolution of appeals and complaints made against their decisions.
2. Competent Bodies shall establish and maintain a register of organisations registered in their Member States, including information as to how their environmental statement or updated environmental statement can be obtained, and, in the case of changes, update that register on a monthly basis.
The register shall be publicly available on a website.
3. Competent Bodies shall each month, directly or via the national authorities as decided by the Member States concerned, communicate changes in the register referred to in paragraph 2 to the Commission.
Registration of organisations
1. Competent Bodies shall consider applications for registration of organisations in accordance with the procedures established to this end.
2. Where an organisation applies for registration, the Competent Body shall register that organisation and give it a registration number if all the following conditions are fulfilled:
(a)
the Competent Body has received an application for registration, which includes all the documents referred to in Article 5(2)(a) to (d);
(b)
the Competent Body has checked that the verification and validation have been carried out in accordance with Articles 25, 26 and 27;
(c)
the Competent Body is satisfied on the basis of material evidence received, for example through a written report from the competent enforcement authority that there is no evidence of breach of applicable legal requirements relating to the environment;
(d)
there are no relevant complaints from interested parties or complaints have been positively solved;
(e)
the Competent Body is satisfied on the basis of evidence received that the organisation meets all the requirements of this Regulation; and
(f)
the Competent Body has received a registration fee, if applicable.
3. The Competent Body shall inform the organisation that it has been registered and provide the organisation with its registration number and the EMAS logo.
4. If a Competent Body concludes that an applicant organisation does not comply with the requirements set out in paragraph 2, it shall refuse to register that organisation and communicate a reasoned justification to the organisation.
5. If a Competent Body receives a written supervision report from the Accreditation or Licensing Body which provides evidence that the activities of the environmental verifier were not performed adequately enough to ensure that the requirements of this Regulation are met by the applicant organisation, it shall refuse to register that organisation. The Competent Body shall invite the organisation to submit a new application for registration.
6. In order to obtain the necessary evidence for taking a decision on refusal of registration of organisations, the Competent Body shall consult the concerned parties including the organisation.
Renewal of the organisation's registration
1. A Competent Body shall renew the registration of the organisation if all the following conditions are fulfilled:
(a)
the Competent Body has received a validated environmental statement as referred to in Article 6(1)(c), a validated updated environmental statement as referred to in Article 6(2)(c) or a non-validated updated environmental statement as referred to in Article 7(3);
(b)
the Competent Body has received a completed form, which includes at least the minimum information set out in Annex VI, as referred to in Article 6(1)(d) and in Article 6(2)(d);
(c)
the Competent Body has no evidence that the verification and validation have not been carried out in accordance with Articles 25, 26 and 27;
(d)
the Competent Body has no evidence of non-compliance by the organisation with applicable legal requirements relating to the environment;
(e)
there are no relevant complaints from interested parties or complaints have been positively solved;
(f)
the Competent Body is satisfied on the basis of evidence received that the organisation meets all the requirements of this Regulation; and
(g)
the Competent Body has received a fee for renewal of the registration, if applicable.
2. The Competent Body shall inform the organisation that its registration has been renewed.
Suspension or deletion of organisations from the register
1. Where a Competent Body believes that a registered organisation does not comply with this Regulation, it shall give the organisation the opportunity to submit its views on the matter. Should the organisation fail to provide a satisfactory response it shall be deleted or suspended from the register.
2. Where a Competent Body receives a written supervision report from the Accreditation or Licensing Body which provides evidence that the activities of the environmental verifier were not performed adequately enough to ensure that the requirements of this Regulation are met by the registered organisation, registration shall be suspended.
3. A registered organisation shall be suspended or deleted from the register, as appropriate, if it fails to submit to a Competent Body, within two months of being required to do so, any of the following:
(a)
the validated environmental statement, an updated environmental statement or the signed declaration referred to in Article 25(9);
(b)
a form which includes at least the minimum information set out in Annex VI from the organisation.
4. If a Competent Body is informed through a written report by the competent enforcement authority of a breach by the organisation of any applicable legal requirements relating to the environment, it shall suspend or delete the reference to that organisation from the register as appropriate.
5. In case a Competent Body decides to suspend or delete a registration it shall take into account at least the following:
(a)
the environmental effect of the non-compliance by the organisation with the requirements of this Regulation;
(b)
the foreseeability of the non-compliance by the organisation with the requirements of this Regulation or the circumstances leading to it;
(c)
previous instances of non-compliance with the requirements of this Regulation by the organisation; and
(d)
the specific circumstances of the organisation.
6. In order to obtain the necessary evidence for taking its decision on suspension or deletion of organisations from the register, the Competent Body shall consult the concerned parties including the organisation.
7. Where the Competent Body has received evidence, other than by means of a written supervision report of the Accreditation or Licensing Body, that activities of the environmental verifier were not performed adequately enough to ensure that the requirements of this Regulation are met by the organisation, it shall consult the Accreditation or Licensing Body supervising the environmental verifier.
8. The Competent Body shall give reasons for any measures taken.
9. The Competent Body shall provide appropriate information to the organisation concerning the consultations with the concerned parties.
10. Suspension of an organisation from the register shall be lifted if the Competent Body has received satisfactory information that the organisation is in compliance with the requirements of this Regulation.
Forum of Competent Bodies
1. A Forum of Competent Bodies from all Member States, hereinafter referred to as ‘the Forum of Competent Bodies’, shall be set up by the Competent Bodies and meet at least once per year in the presence of a representative of the Commission.
The Forum of Competent Bodies shall adopt its rules of procedure.
2. Competent Bodies of each Member State shall participate in the Forum of Competent Bodies. Where several Competent Bodies are established within one Member State, appropriate measures shall be taken to ensure that all of them are informed about the activities of the Forum of Competent Bodies.
3. The Forum of Competent Bodies shall develop guidance to ensure the consistency of procedures relating to the registration of organisations in accordance with this Regulation, including renewal of registration and suspension and deletion of organisations from the register both inside and outside the Community.
The Forum of Competent Bodies shall transmit to the Commission the guidance documents and documents referring to the peer evaluation.
4. Guidance documents referring to harmonisation procedures approved by the Forum of Competent Bodies shall be proposed as appropriate by the Commission for adoption in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 49(3).
Those documents shall be made publicly available.
Peer evaluation of Competent Bodies
1. A peer evaluation shall be organised by the Forum of Competent Bodies to assess conformity of the registration system of every Competent Body with this Regulation and to develop a harmonised approach to the application of the rules relating to registration.
2. The peer evaluation shall be carried out on a regular basis and at least every four years, and shall include an assessment of the rules and procedures set out in Articles 12, 13 and 15. All Competent Bodies shall participate in the peer evaluation.
3. The Commission shall establish procedures for carrying out the peer evaluation, including appropriate appeals procedures against decisions taken as a result of the peer evaluation.
Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 49(3).
4. Procedures referred to in paragraph 3 shall be established before the first peer evaluation takes place.
5. The Forum of Competent Bodies shall transmit a regular report of the peer evaluation to the Commission and the Committee established under Article 49(1).
That report shall be made publicly available after approval by the Forum of Competent Bodies and the Committee referred to in the first subparagraph.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
