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ISO Standards

ISO standards are unified international standards, which have a common wording and validity in all countries that have chosen to accept them. They are created by the International Organization for Standardization. The standards contribute to a more effective, safer and cleaner development, production and provision of services. Their implementation helps businesses expand in the international market, broadens the supply for customers and ensures the safety of products and the effort to protect the environment.
From the viewpoint of the environment, the most important series is ISO 14000, which focuses on environmental protection management by businesses (creation of a corporate environmental management system). It was created to provide tools contributing to the promotion of activities leading to sustainable development.
Organisations reduce the adverse effects of their activities on the environment and continuously improve their environmental behaviour.

The series is divided according to thematic areas into several further decades:

• decade 14000 - Environmental management systems
• decade 14010 - Guidelines for environmental auditing
• decade 14020 - Environmental labels and declarations
• decade 14030 - Environmental impacts assessment of businesses
• decade 14040 - Life cycle assessment
• decade 14050 - Terms and definitions

An international standard can be adopted by the European Committee for Standardization and is subsequently accepted as a European Standard (ES) or by a national standardization institute (ČSN - Czech State Norm). The individual markings may be combined, e.g. ČSN EN ISO 14004 means that the international standard 14004 has been adopted both as a Czech and European standard.

EMS

An Environmental Management System (EMS) is based on the creation, implementation and maintenance of an appropriately structured management system, which is a part of the overall system of management and relates to all elements of the business behaviour towards the environment. It uses systemic tools and practices to favour the prevention of pollution and waste, which at the same time leads to a reduction in the need of raw materials, processed materials and energy and thereby generates economic and environmental profit. The advantages of a business arising from the implementation of an EMS include a reduction of operating costs, savings in energy, raw materials and other resources; reduction of the risk of environmental emergencies within the scope of the business; increase in entrepreneurial trustworthiness for investors and partners; improvement in public relations; obtaining of commercially marketable designations on business cards (ISO 14000 certificate, registration with the EMAS programme).

Background information on environmental protection instruments: