Commission Decision of 7 December 2011 concerning a guide on EU corporate registration, third country and global registration under Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the voluntary participation by organisations in a Community eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS) (notified under document C(2011) 8896) (Text with EEA relevance) (2011/832/EU)

4.2.3. The accreditation or license that verifiers can obtain for third countries must state for which third countries it is valid, so that the registration allowance is consistent with the provisions of Article 22(2) of the EMAS Regulation. It is up to the Member States to decide if they want to issue separate certificates for each third country or issue an overall accreditation certificate with a geographical appendix, listing the countries in which the verification bodies are accredited to operate in, attached.

Clarifying comment:

Taking into account Article 22, ‘additional requirements for environmental verifiers active in third countries’ it is clear that accreditation/licensing for third countries can only be an additional accreditation/licensing to a basic accreditation/licensing for Europe. This implies that third country accreditation/licensing is granted as an additional requirement to general accreditation/licensing in a certain scope and its requirements. Consequently accreditation/licensing for third countries will have to include accreditation/licensing for one of the Member States and within a certain scope.

Once a verifier is accredited or licensed in one Member State he/she is free to perform verifying activities in other Member States in accordance with Article 24 of the Regulation.