Revising the EMAS Regulation and its national transposition

Following the revision of the ISO 14001 environmental management system standard in September 2015, the European Commission was revising the EMAS Regulation to take into account these changes and adapt EMAS accordingly. The revision took place in two steps: (1) the Commission adapted Annexes I to IV and the User’s Guide and (2) then subsequently made any further changes to the EMAS Regulation itself. This revision took into consideration, among other things, the results of the EMAS evaluation from 2015 and the results of the EMAS "regulatory fitness check" in the framework of the European Commission's REFIT process.

The aim of this project was to investigate the technical foundations for the further development of the EMAS regulation and to submit concrete proposals for integrating these developments into German environmental policy. Among other topics, the project analysed and evaluated the new aspects of the current EMAS revision and their effects on EMAS organisations and interested parties. During this process, the project used feedback from stakeholders to develop recommendations for further changes to the EMAS regulation and the EMAS system. In this context, the project team took into consideration the results of the 2012 German evaluation study commissioned by the German Ministry of the Environment and the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), which also formed part of the background context for the Commission's own evaluation of EMAS.

adelphi supported Arqum GmbH on this project, contributing in particular its expertise and knowledge in the field of supply chains, CSR reporting, and analyses on the future of EMAS. In addition, adelphi incorporated its experience with work and reconciliation processes at EU level and with the EU Commission.