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)

4.4. Tasks of the accredited or licensed verifiers

4.4.1. General rules applicable to EMAS environmental verifiers, their accreditation or licence and to verification process are established in Chapters V and VI of the EMAS Regulation.

4.4.2. Those Member States that allow third country registration must put in place a specific system to accredit or license verifiers for third countries. Verifier accreditation or licensing will be granted country by country as an add-on to a general accreditation or licence, in accordance with the specifications described in this section.

4.4.3. The verifier(s) must be accredited or licensed for all the NACE codes of the organisation’s activities related to the sites of this organisation which are to be included in the registration procedure. Due to the potentially wide scope of activities, organisations have the possibility to use several accredited verifiers as they see fit. In fact it might be difficult if not impossible to appoint a single verifier for all the activities of large organisations. If the verifier is not accredited or licensed for the relevant NACE codes himself/herself, other environmental verifiers shall be involved as appropriate through case-cooperation. It is up to an organisation seeking for registration to decide if it wants to involve several accredited/licensed verifiers taking into account Article 4 of the EMAS Regulation. Apart from reasons such as the lack of verifiers accredited for the relevant NACE codes organisations might also have other reasons (e.g. local experience, language knowledge or the desire to combine the EMAS verification with certification against other standards) to use several verifiers.

4.4.4. All cooperating verifiers have to sign the declaration referred to in Article 25(9) and the EMAS environmental statement. Each verifier involved is responsible for the outcome of that part(s) of the verification that results from his/her own area of expertise (mostly related to specific NACE codes). The practice that all verifiers must sign the same declaration enables the competent body to identify all involved verifiers. Consequently the competent body can verify, via the accreditation and licensing bodies, if all the involved verifiers have respected the prior notification obligation as stated in Article 23(2) of the EMAS Regulation. It also enables the competent body to verify if the NACE codes of the involved verifiers cover those of the organisation in question.

4.4.5. Verifiers who want to operate in third countries must obtain a specific accreditation or licence for the specific country in question as an add-on to a general accreditation or licence, in accordance with the specifications laid out in the EMAS Regulation. This means they must have:

(a)

a specific accreditation or licence for the NACE codes applicable to the organisation;

(b)

knowledge and understanding of the legislative, regulatory and administrative requirements relating to the environment in the third country for which accreditation or licence is sought;

(c)

knowledge and understanding of the official language of the third country for which accreditation or licence is sought.

4.4.6. Verifiers shall — as a part of the verification procedure — check all environmental licences or permits applicable to the organisation or any other kind of evidence in accordance with the legal system operating in the countries covered by the application.

4.4.7. In third countries, the verifier shall, on top of his regular duties, perform in particular an in depth check of the legal compliance of an organisation and of its sites included in the registration process. Thereby, specifically considering the content of Article 13(2)(c) of the EMAS Regulation, verifiers shall check that there is no evidence of non-compliance relating to the environment. Verifiers should use the findings of enforcement authorities and should thus contact those authorities in order to obtain detailed information about the legal compliance. The verifier must check if he/she is satisfied on the basis of material evidence received, for example through a written report from the competent enforcement authority. If no evidence for non-compliance is found, this shall be declared in the environmental verifier’s declaration on verification and validation activities (Annex VII to the EMAS Regulation). This declaration is to be signed by the verifier. The verifier has the duty to check if the requirements of the EMAS Regulation are satisfied through usual audit techniques which are to be conducted in accordance with the EMAS Regulation. In order to ensure an equal level of quality of registration of the third country sites compared to similar sites in the EU, the verifier might consider performing a risk assessment evaluation.

4.4.8. In accordance with Article 13(2)(d) of the EMAS Regulation, the verifier should check if there are no relevant complaints from interested parties or that complaints have been positively solved.

4.4.9. Those Member States that provide for third country registration shall consider putting in place measures to strengthen the accreditation process in order to ensure that verifiers accredited for specific third countries are knowledgeable to check compliance of the organisation with the applicable national legislation in the third country.

4.4.10. Member States that provide for third country registration may consider putting in place optional specific provisions to reinforce the checking of legal compliance and ensure a registration process, similar to that in the EU. Member States may in particular consider the possibility of concluding agreements (bilateral agreement, memorandum of understanding, etc.). Such agreements could include a procedure to communicate legal compliance between the respective enforcement authority in the third country and the Member State, as well as how to communicate breaches of applicable legal requirements to the Member State’s competent body in the time between the initial registration or renewal and the next renewal.

4.4.11. At least six weeks before verification or validation in a third country, the environmental verifier shall notify its accreditation or licence details and the time and place of the verification or validation to the accreditation or licensing body of the Member State in which the organisation concerned intends to apply for registration or is registered. The competent body of the Member State in which the sites are intended to be registered can also be notified.

4.4.12. If a verifier detects a non-compliance situation at the time of registration, he/she shall not sign the EMAS environmental statement and the declaration referred to in Article 25(9) of the Regulation.

4.4.13. If a verifier detects a case of non-compliance in the period of validity of the registrations or at the time of renewal, he/she can report to the competent body that the organisation in question does not comply with the EMAS requirements any longer. At the time of renewal he/she may only sign the declaration referred to in Article 25(9) and the updated EMAS environmental statement, if the organisation demonstrates that it took adequate measures (i.e. in cooperation with the enforcement authorities) to ensure that legal compliance is restored. If the organisation can not demonstrate to the verifier to have taken sufficient measures to restore legal compliance, the verifier shall not validate the updated statement and not sign the declaration and the EMAS environmental statement.