Emas Certification Mark

• The customer has submitted to voluntary assessment (audit) according to defined criteria
  (certification standard).
• Authorisation to use a certification mark is only issued if the assessment (audit) does not reveal any major nonconformities with the requirements of the certification standard.
• The certification mark is valid for a restricted period of time. Interested parties can check the validity of individual certification marks in the certificate database of TÜV SÜD Management Service GmbH. The validity of EMAS certification can also be verified at any time based on the entry in the EMAS register in the respective national database; in Germany this is the EMAS register at the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Deutscher Industrie- und Handelskammertag, DIHK).
• To maintain the validity of EMAS certification certificate holders must annually complete an announced audit for updating the environmental statement; for small-sized enterprises the interval can be extended to 2 years.
• The EMAS scheme does not include any unannounced audits.

Independent and qualified experts (environmental auditors) apply the following auditing techniques:

• Document review
  Evaluation of documentation and records of EMS effectiveness according to the requirements of the standard or as specified by the organisation.
  
  
• On-site audit
  Verification in the form of interviews and on-site inspection at the customer's premises that the above requirements are effectively implemented in practice. Random checks on processes based on records, such as available measurement results, minutes of meetings, training and qualification records, complaints management, environmental objectives and programmes, or communication with authorities.
  
  
• The environmental auditor will check the traceability of the data in the environmental statement and compliance with legal requirements by comparing various data sources and records. Entries in the EMAS register are subject to the consent of the environmental surveillance authority responsible for the organisation in question.

• While EMAS ensures transparency of the organisation's actual environmental performance by validating the environmental statements with facts and figures, it does not establish any absolute criteria for environmental performance.
• EMAS does not provide any direct statements on the environmental-compatibility of a certified customer's product or service. EMAS certification does not constitute product certification.
• Certification according to EMAS cannot ensure an organisation's compliance with all relevant legal and other environmental requirements at all times, even though such compliance is one of the key objectives of the environmental management system and is supported by various tools.