ISO 14000 Environmental Management System Standard

The ISO14000 environmental management system standard is an internationally recognized environmental management system standard developed by ISO/TC207 (International Technical Committee on Environmental Management). It includes many key issues in the field of international environmental management, such as environmental management systems, environmental audits, environmental labeling, and lifecycle analysis. Its purpose is to guide various organizations (enterprises, companies) to achieve correct environmental behavior. But it does not include the development of standards for pollutant testing methods, pollutant and wastewater limit values, and product standards. This standard is not only applicable to manufacturing and processing industries, but also to service industries such as construction, transportation, waste management, maintenance, and consulting. This standard reserves a total of 100 standard numbers, divided into 7 series, with the number ISO14000-14100.

The Relationship between ISO9000 and ISO14000
The ISO 9000 quality system certification standard and the ISO 14000 environmental management system standard have many common requirements for organizations (companies, enterprises), and the two sets of standards can be used together. Many enterprises or companies around the world have passed the certification of the ISO9000 family of standards, and these enterprises or companies can apply the experience gained from passing the ISO9000 system certification to environmental management certification. The new version of the ISO9000 family of standards further embodies the principle of combining two sets of standards, making the ISO9000 family of standards more closely related to the ISO14000 series of standards.
Characteristics of ISO14000
The ISO14000 series of standards is developed to promote the improvement of global environmental quality. It strengthens the environmental awareness, management capabilities, and safeguard measures of organizations (companies, enterprises) through a set of environmental management framework documents, in order to achieve the goal of improving environmental quality. It is currently a voluntary standard adopted by organizations (companies, enterprises) and a conscious behavior of organizations (companies, enterprises). In China, third-party independent certification is adopted to verify whether the products produced by organizations (companies, enterprises) meet the requirements.
The Goal of ISO14000
The goal of ISO14000 is to establish international standards that comply with environmental protection laws and regulations of various countries, promote the ISO14000 series of standards globally, improve global environmental quality, promote world trade, and eliminate trade barriers.
What is lifecycle thinking
The lifecycle concept runs through the theme of the ISO14000 series standards. It requires organizations (companies, enterprises) to control the environmental factors that affect the entire process of product design, production, use, scrapping, and recycling. ISO14000 should embody the concept of lifecycle thinking based on the "environmental policy". TC207 has established a Life Cycle Assessment Technical Committee to evaluate the magnitude of the environmental impact of products at each production stage, enabling organizations (companies, enterprises) to analyze and improve.
Background of ISO14000
Since the 1980s, some companies in the United States and Europe have taken the lead in establishing their own environmental management methods to enhance public image and reduce pollution, which is the prototype of environmental management systems. The "Environment and Development" conference held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992 was attended by 183 countries and over 70 international organizations. The conference passed documents such as "Agenda 21", marking the beginning of establishing an environmental management system for clean production, reducing pollution, and seeking sustainable development globally. It is also the foundation for the widespread promotion of ISO14000 environmental management standards.
The Relationship between ISO14000 and EMAS
In April 1995, the European Community began implementing EMAS (European Environmental Management and Audit System), which was earlier than the ISO14000 series of standards. After the introduction of the ISO14000 series of standards, the European Committee for Standardization tried to maintain consistency with ISO14000 in the process of revising the standards, achieving the goal of adopting ISO standards as European standards. In September 1996, the European Committee for Standardization passed a resolution to convert 14001 into a European standard, and also converted several environmental audit standards, including ISO14010, ISO14011, and ISO14012. Although there are still differences between ISO standards and EMAS, they will be mutually recognized.

What are the main contents of ISO14000 audit

The content of the first stage audit
The first stage audit includes document review and necessary on-site audit. Their contents are as follows:
1. The content of document review:
a. Confirm that the environmental management system documents comply with the requirements of ISO 14001 certification standards.
b. The consistency of environmental policies, important environmental factors, target indicators, management plans, and control procedures confirms that the establishment of a system can achieve environmental policies.
2. During the on-site audit process in the first stage, the following should be grasped:
a. The basic situation of system establishment is confirmed to have been in trial operation for more than three months by reviewing the time of initial environmental review, the release time of manuals and procedural documents, the formation time of environmental factors, lists and other element records. The audit and verification of the effectiveness of the system by running time are crucial, and implementing and maintaining them is far more difficult than establishing an environmental management system. Adhering to the requirements of running time is also a measure to maintain the healthy development of the system.  
b. The identification of key audit environmental factors and the evaluation procedures for important environmental factors, as well as the recording and results of the identification and evaluation process. The identification of environmental factors is a fundamental task in the operation of environmental management systems, and the evaluation of major environmental factors is a directional task in the operation of environmental management systems. On the basis of fully identifying environmental factors, appropriately evaluating the major environmental factors that the system needs to control is a reflection of the effectiveness of the first stage audit. It is hard to imagine that an organization that still severely punishes excessive sewage discharge avoids the major environmental factor of sewage discharge, and sets target indicators, environmental management plans, or operational control procedures that consider saving paper as a major environmental factor. This system is like a proposition essay that is thousands of miles off topic. From a systemic perspective, avoiding the important and focusing on the trivial is ineffective.  
c. Compliance with laws and regulations and implementation of procedures for obtaining and identifying them.
The acquisition and identification of laws and regulations are also fundamental work of the environmental management system, as laws and regulations are the primary factor in setting target indicators and an important basis for identifying environmental factors and evaluating major environmental factors. The first stage audit must evaluate whether the organization has fully identified the relevant legal provisions and content related to its environmental factors. For organizations, a relatively weak area is the failure to fully collect specific standards for pollution emissions, that is, to implement corresponding pollutant emission standards based on the requirements of the surface water, atmospheric, and acoustic environmental functional zones in the area where the organization is located. This emission standard should be based on the approval documents of relevant local administrative departments (such as environmental impact assessment approval documents, etc.).  
During the same stage of the audit process, an evaluation of the compliance with organizational laws and regulations should also be made. Although ISO 14000 certification standard 4.2 requires organizations to commit to complying with laws and regulations, considering China's national conditions, compliance with laws and regulations is a prerequisite for implementing ISO 14000. The deadline for meeting the emission standards of major pollutants should be the same as the "one control, two standards" deadline, which is December 31, 2000. According to EA-110, certification bodies should require organizations to provide proof of compliance with environmental laws and regulations, confirmed by the local environmental protection administrative department. Practice has proven that monitoring the pollutant emissions of organizations by local monitoring departments and proving the legality of organizational behavior in the form of technical data is acceptable to a wide range of organizations and in line with international practices.
However, since the monitoring results still need to be compared with the emission standards allowed by the organization to evaluate whether the pollutant emissions meet the standards, it is necessary to approve the environmental impact assessment, or it is also feasible for the local environmental protection department to approve the standards that should be implemented for the organization's discharge of three wastes.
D. The credibility and adequacy of internal audit implementation. Through a stage of internal audit, necessary records such as annual and specific plans, attendance sheets for first and last meetings, checklists, and SO14001 requirements have been recorded and implemented, demonstrating credibility. Through the first stage of review, weaknesses in the organization were identified during the May Day holiday, which will be the focus and clue of the second stage review. Ensure that the internal audit passes the two-stage audit, reaches sufficient depth, and promotes the organization's internal audit to truly play its role as one of the three-level control mechanisms of self diagnosis and self correction.  
E. The adequacy of organizational responsibilities is confirmed to be in line with the actual situation of the organization. Especially through conversations with senior managers, understand the adequacy of human resource support such as organizational structure and responsibilities. Talk to representatives of environmental managers to understand their core position in the implementation process of the system.
F. The management review has been effectively implemented. In addition to focusing on the credibility of the organizational management review, the first stage audit should also review its main content and understand the overall evaluation of the environmental management system by the organizational management. It is very helpful for the audit team to grasp the system from a macro perspective by conducting a review of this element in one stage. The deficiencies identified in the management review report should be the focus and entry point of the second stage audit.  
In short, the first stage audit is the overall planning of the system, which is a fundamental and directional audit of the system. The second stage audit focuses on the operation of the system, and only a system with effective planning, sufficient foundation, and correct direction can be effective. The two-stage review is complementary and irreplaceable, jointly supporting and ensuring the depth and effectiveness of the review. Therefore, the compliance of system documents, the adequacy of environmental factor identification, the suitability of major environmental factor evaluation, the compliance with laws and regulations, the suitability of identifying corresponding content of laws and regulations, the suitability and adequacy of organizational structure, the consistency of major environmental factor control clauses, the credibility and adequacy of internal audit and management review are all the objects of first stage audit and evaluation. Grasping the above content review, that is, grasping the focus of the first stage review, will lay the foundation for the effectiveness of the review.