Problems with Environmental Legislation
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2025 5:58 am
Yago Blázquez , professor of the Environment Area at Bureau Veritas Training .
The identification, implementation and evaluation of legal environmental requirements is one of the most important aspects of the ISO 14001 standard and one of the pillars on which Environmental Management Systems are based.
Certification of an Environmental Management System based on the ISO 14001 standard is the most widely recognized way in the world to demonstrate, to third parties (clients, shareholders, management, etc.), that environmental compliance is being achieved. And, in the process, it helps organizations to give it the role it deserves, which generates satisfaction among its employees.
Those who work under an ISO 14001 Environmental Management System know that proactively complying with current environmental legislation is not an easy task for all these reasons:
Environmental legislation can be at European, state, regional bitcoin data and municipal level, so it is not only necessary to take into account the requirements established by one administration.
There is a high rate of legislative renewal. Numerous new legal requirements or amendments to existing ones are issued almost daily, requiring organizations to always be aware of changes.
There are a large number of legal requirements for different topics and levels (water, waste, soil, emissions, environmental impact, coasts, etc.). This means that each company must review what directly affects it and may be susceptible to non-compliance.
Disparity of legislation-issuing bodies (environment, industry, energy, development, etc.) at European, state, regional and municipal levels.
Blurred boundaries with other legal disciplines. For example, Industrial Safety (warehouses, fires), Health (Legionella) and Occupational Risk Prevention (signaling).
Difficulty of interpretation. These are technical standards that sometimes make interpretation difficult and, although they must be general enough to cover all situations, we often find ourselves with circumstances that fall outside the scope of the legislation.
This is why more and more organisations rely on third parties to comply with environmental legislation: consultants, lawyers, public bodies, websites, etc., who are fully aware of all the required requirements and how to comply with them.
Furthermore, it is not enough to be up to date with the legal requirements of the standard for a specific date; a series of assessments must be carried out periodically to demonstrate that the company continues to comply with said law, which represents an effort for organizations. These audits ensure constant compliance with the legislation in force.
The identification, implementation and evaluation of legal environmental requirements is one of the most important aspects of the ISO 14001 standard and one of the pillars on which Environmental Management Systems are based.
Certification of an Environmental Management System based on the ISO 14001 standard is the most widely recognized way in the world to demonstrate, to third parties (clients, shareholders, management, etc.), that environmental compliance is being achieved. And, in the process, it helps organizations to give it the role it deserves, which generates satisfaction among its employees.
Those who work under an ISO 14001 Environmental Management System know that proactively complying with current environmental legislation is not an easy task for all these reasons:
Environmental legislation can be at European, state, regional bitcoin data and municipal level, so it is not only necessary to take into account the requirements established by one administration.
There is a high rate of legislative renewal. Numerous new legal requirements or amendments to existing ones are issued almost daily, requiring organizations to always be aware of changes.
There are a large number of legal requirements for different topics and levels (water, waste, soil, emissions, environmental impact, coasts, etc.). This means that each company must review what directly affects it and may be susceptible to non-compliance.
Disparity of legislation-issuing bodies (environment, industry, energy, development, etc.) at European, state, regional and municipal levels.
Blurred boundaries with other legal disciplines. For example, Industrial Safety (warehouses, fires), Health (Legionella) and Occupational Risk Prevention (signaling).
Difficulty of interpretation. These are technical standards that sometimes make interpretation difficult and, although they must be general enough to cover all situations, we often find ourselves with circumstances that fall outside the scope of the legislation.
This is why more and more organisations rely on third parties to comply with environmental legislation: consultants, lawyers, public bodies, websites, etc., who are fully aware of all the required requirements and how to comply with them.
Furthermore, it is not enough to be up to date with the legal requirements of the standard for a specific date; a series of assessments must be carried out periodically to demonstrate that the company continues to comply with said law, which represents an effort for organizations. These audits ensure constant compliance with the legislation in force.