Environmental management systems - Requirements with guidance for use

This International Standard specifies requirements for an environmental management system, to enable an organization to develop a policy and objectives taking into account legal requirements and information about significant environmental aspects. It applies to those environmental aspects which the organization can control and those which It can influence.
This International Standard is applicable to any organization that wishes to:

a) implement, maintain and improve an environmental management system;
- seeking certification/registration of its environmental management system by an external organization.
All the requirements in this International Standard are intended to be incorporated into any environmental management system. 2 Normative references

Terms and definitions

continual improvement
recurring process of enhancing the environmental management system (3.6) in order to achieve improvements in overall environmental performance (3.9) consistent with the organization’s (3.13) environmental policy (3.10)

document environment
environmental aspect
NOTE A significant environmental aspect has or can have a significant environmental impact (3.6).


environmental impact
any change to the environment (3.3), whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s (3.13) environmental aspects (3.4)
3.7
environmental management system
part of an organization’s (3.13) management system used to develop and implement its environmental policy (3.10) and manage its interaction(s) with the environment (3.3)

achieve those objectives

NOTE 2 A management system includes organizational structure, planning activities, responsibilities, practices, procedures (3.15), processes and resources

3.8
environmental management system audit
systematic, independent and documented process for obtaining audit evidence and evaluating it objectively to determine the extent to which the environmental management system) audit criteria set by the organization
environmental objective
overall environmental goal, consistent with the environmental policy (3.10), that an organization (3.13) sets itself to achieve