Conditions for performing verification and validation
Article 25
1. The environmental verifier shall operate within the scope of its accreditation or licence, and on the basis of a written agreement with the organisation. That agreement shall: (a) specify the scope of the activity; (b) specify conditions aimed at enabling the environmental verifier to operate in an independent professional manner; and (c) commit the organisation to providing the necessary cooperation. 2. The environmental verifier shall ensure that the components of the organisation are unambiguously defined and correspond to a real division of the activities. The environmental statement shall clearly specify the different parts of the organisation that are subject to verification or validation. 3. The environmental verifier shall carry out an assessment of the elements set out in Article 18. 4. As part of the verification and validation activities the environmental verifier shall examine documentation, visit the organisation, carry out spot-checks and conduct interviews with personnel. 5. Prior to a visit by the environmental verifier, the organisation shall provide it with basic information about the organisation and its activities, the environmental policy and programme, the description of the environmental management system in operation in the organisation, details of the environmental review or audit carried out, the report on that review or audit and on any corrective action taken afterwards, and the draft environmental statement or updated environmental statement. 6. The environmental verifier shall prepare a written report for the organisation, on the outcome of the verification, which shall specify: (a) all issues relevant to the activity carried out by the environmental verifier; (b) a description of conformity with all requirements of this Regulation including supporting evidence, findings and conclusions; (c) the comparison of the achievements and targets with the previous environmental statements and the environmental performance assessment and assessment of the continuous environmental performance improvement of the organisation; (d) if applicable, technical defects in the environmental review, audit method, environmental management system, or any other relevant process. 7. In cases of non-conformity with the provisions of this Regulation, the report shall specify in addition: (a) findings and conclusions on the non-conformity by the organisation and evidence on which those findings and conclusion are based; (b) points of disagreement with the draft environmental statement or updated environmental statement, and details of the amendments or additions that should be made to the environmental statement or updated environmental statement. 8. After verification, the environmental verifier shall validate the organisation's environmental statement or updated environmental statement and confirm that it meets the requirements of this Regulation provided that the outcome of the verification and validation confirms that: (a) the information and data in the organisation's environmental statement or updated environmental statement are reliable and correct and meet the requirements of this Regulation; and (b) there is no evidence that the organisation does not fulfil applicable legal requirements relating to the environment. 9. Upon validation, the environmental verifier shall issue a signed declaration as referred to in Annex VII declaring that the verification and validation were carried out in accordance with this Regulation. 10. Environmental verifiers accredited or licensed in one Member State may perform verification and validation activities in any other Member State in accordance with the requirements set out in this Regulation. The verification or validation activity shall be subject to supervision by the Accreditation or Licensing Body of the Member State where the activity is to be performed. The start of the activity shall be notified to that Accreditation or Licensing Body in accordance with the timing set out in Article 24(1).