EVT472 Environmental Management System Fairus Muhamad Darus © 2018

TOPIC 2:

THE DEVELOPMENT HISTORY OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

SYSTEM (ISO 14000)

By the end of this topic, you should be able to:

– Explain the history of ISO 14000

– Elaborate about International Organization for

Standardization

– Discuss the roles of SAGE and TC207

2.1 The history of ISO 14000

The birth of ISO 14000 was not a linear event. That is, there was
no series of identifiable event that led directly to its
development.

Two historical evolutions are involved in the development of

EMS which are environmental management and
standardization.

Environmental management

Environmental management has existed in some form for

thousands of year but really started in earnest the 1960s.
Significant contamination discovered at that time prompted
the enactment of many laws and regulation in the 1970s and
1980s.

Standardization

Standardization on worldwide basic was accelerated with

quality and occurred generally independent of environmental
management.

The standardisation was designed to aid companies trading

across different nations to increase trade, quality, and
productivity and reduce costs of goods and services.

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One standard that received significant attention was BS 5750,

which large part led the current ISO 9000 quality standard in
which most organization worldwide are investing incredible to
achieve.

The success of the quality management standard BS 5750 gave

a model for a management system. So the idea of an
environmental management standard was born.

BS 7750 was published on April 1992, under the title

Environmental Systems.

This standard was developed as a response to the need for

uniform system of environmental management.

At the time its release, BS 7750 was the first national standard for
environmental management system in the European Union.

ISO 14000 evolved in a similar way to ISO 9000 in that the origins
of ISO 9000 were based on BS 5750, and so the foundations of
ISO 14000 can be traced back to BS 7750.

Environmental management and Standardization

The environmental management and the standardization

movements merged in the early 1990s.

The ISO 14000, EMS standards was prepared in year 1992 due to
the influenced the Uruguay General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade (GATT) negotiations and Rio Environmental Summit, 1992.

GATT concentrated on the need to reduce non-tariff barriers to

trade. While, the objectives of Rio Summit is generated a
commitment to protection of the environment across the world.

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2.2 Standard

Definition by ISO:

“The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) defines

standard as a documented agreement containing technical
specifications or other precise criteria to be used consistently as
a rule, guideline, or definition of characteristics, to ensure that
materials, products, processes, and services are fit for their
purpose.”

Standardized products and services are valuable User

'confidence builders', being perceived as:

 ____________________
 ____________________
 ____________________
 ____________________
 ____________________

As a result, standardized goods and services are widely

accepted, commonly trusted and highly valued.

Ideally, standards are designed to facilitate international trade

by increasing the reliability and effectiveness of goods and
services.

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International Standards give state of the art specifications for

products, services and good practice, helping to make industry
more efficient and effective.

International Standards were developed through global

consensus, they help to break down barriers to international
trade.

2.3 International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is the

world’s largest developer of voluntary International Standards.

The ISO story began in ____________ when delegates from 25

countries met at the Institute of Civil Engineers in London and
decided to create a new international organization ‘to
facilitate the international coordination and unification of
industrial standards’. In February 1947 the new organization,
ISO, officially began operations.

ISO have published more than ___________________ International

Standards covering almost all aspects of technology and
business.

ISO develop standards in all industries except those related to

electric and electronic engineering. All standard developed by
ISO are voluntary.

ISO Memberships

ISO is an independent, non-governmental organization made

up of members from the national standards bodies of 164
countries.

There are three member categories in ISO:

 Full members (or member bodies) - Full members (or

member bodies) influence ISO standards development
and strategy by participating and voting in ISO technical
and policy meetings.

Full members sell and adopt ISO International Standards

nationally.

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 Correspondent members - Correspondent

members observe the development of ISO standards and
strategy by attending ISO technical and policy meetings
as observers.

Correspondent members can sell and adopt ISO

International Standards nationally.

 Subscriber members - Subscriber members keep up to

date on ISO’s work but cannot participate in it. They do
not sell or adopt ISO International Standards nationally.
They do not sell or adopt ISO International Standards
nationally.

2.4 Standards development process

1. ISO standards respond to a need in the market

ISO does not decide when to develop a new standard, but
responds to a request from industry or other stakeholders such
as consumer groups. Typically, an industry sector or group
communicates the need for a standard to its national member
who then contacts ISO.

2. ISO standards are based on global expert opinion

ISO standards are developed by groups of experts from all over
the world, that are part of larger groups called technical
committees. These experts negotiate all aspects of the
standard, including its scope, key definitions and content.

3. ISO standards are developed through a multi-stakeholder

process
The technical committees are made up of experts from the
relevant industry, but also from consumer associations,
academia, NGOs and government.
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4. ISO standards are based on a consensus

Developing ISO standards is a consensus-based approach and
comments from all stakeholders are taken into account.

International standards are developed by ISO technical

committee (TC) through a five-step process:

1. ____________________

2. __________________

3. __________________

4. __________________

5. __________________

2.5 Benefits of trademark ISO brand

 Equal footing - Every participating ISO member institution

has the right to take part in the development of any
standard which it judges to be important to its country's
economy. No matter what the size or strength of that
economy, each participating member in ISO has one
vote.

 ISO standards are voluntary. As a non-governmental

organization, ISO has no legal authority to enforce their
implementation.

 Market-driven - ISO develops only those standards for

which there is a market requirement.

 Consensus - ISO standards are based on consensus

among the interested parties ensures widespread
applicability of the standards.

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 Worldwide - ISO standards are technical agreements

which provide the framework for compatible technology
worldwide.

2.6 ‘Strategic Action Group on the Environment’

In 1991, ISO formed the SAGE to make recommendation

regarding international environmental standards.

SAGE was asked to investigate whether an international

environmental standard could achieve the following goal:

1. Promote a common approach to environment

management.

2. Enhance an organization’s ability to attain and measure

improvement in environmental performance.

3. Facilitate trade and remove trade barriers.

In 1992, SAGE recommended the formation of an ISO Technical

Committee (TC) dedicated to developing a uniform
international Environmental Management System (EMS)
standard.

The role of a technical committee is to bring together

representative from many countries to reach a consensus on a
voluntary standard that can be used by all participating
countries.

The committee was established was call ____________________.

This technical committee divided into ___________________ and
__________________________. Each of these groups works on
specialized topic.

The scope of activity for TC 207 is to standardize the field of

environmental management tool and system.

At the same time, TC 207 is working in cooperative effort with

TC 176, committee that works on developing and revising the

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ISO 9000 family of standard. This done because ISO 9000 and
ISO 14000 will have similar registration schemes.

The overall goal of technical committee was to trade a basic

and uniform set of standard can assist an organization in
achieving its environmental objective using effective
management tools and systems while at same time protect
against potential negative impact on trade and commerce.

TC207:

SC 1 Environmental Management Systems (EMS)

SC 2 Environmental Auditing & Related Investigations (EA&RI)
SC 3 Environmental Labeling (EL)
SC 4 Environmental Performance Evaluation (EPE)
SC 5 Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
SC 7 Greenhouse Gas Management and Related Activites
TCG Terms and Definitions (T&D)

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