The EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme

The EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) is a management tool for use by all organisations, regardless of size, type or sector; which enables them to evaluate, report and improve their environmental performance.

EMAS was created by the EU through the European Regulation 1836/93, which has since been updated twice with the third iteration, REGULATION (EC) No 1221/2009 coming into force in January 2010.

EMAS is a voluntary scheme and aids organisations in the:

• Improvement of its environmental and financial performance,
• Communication of its environmental achievements to the general public.

The main requirement of EMAS is that all participating organisations regularly produce a public environmental statement that reports on their environmental performance. This environmental statement must be independently verified by a certification body, such as TÜV CYPRUS, to ensure that the environmental information stated in the report is valid, accurate and verifiable.

EMAS has the following benefits for all participating companies:

• resource efficiency, and as a result lower costs,
• guarantee of full regulatory compliance with environmental legislation,
• reduced risk of fines with regards to environmental legislation,
• access to public contracts,
• use of the EMAS logo as a marketing tool,
• increased business opportunities in markets where green production processes are important.

TÜV CYPRUS and TÜV HELLAS have extensive experience, on a wide range of industrial activities, in the verification of Environmental Management Systems according to the EMAS Regulation as well as in the validation of environmental statements.