ISO 14001 Revision Update

What is the present status of revision?

DIS (Draft International Standard) was issued in July 2014. Presently the DIS is under ballot review process. FDS (Final Draft International Standard) is expected to be published during quarter 3 of 2015 and the final revised Standard should be out by end of 2015.

What will be the main changes to the standard?

• High-Level Structure – Annex SL
  It will be based on High-Level structure called Annex SL. All revised versions of ISO Standards including ISO 9001 will be following high-level structure.
• Strategic Environmental Management
  A new requirement of identifying the context of the organization with reference to the needs and expectations of the interested party has been added. The purpose is to bring environmental management under an organization’s strategic planning process. Once the needs are identified actions to mitigate risk and exploit beneficial opportunities are integrated into the strategic planning process.
• Leadership
  To ensure the success of the system, a new clause has been added that assigns specific responsibilities for those in leadership roles to promote environmental management within the organization.
• Environmental Performance
  There is a shift in emphasis with regard to continual improvement, from improving the management system to improving environmental performance. Consistent with the organization’s policy commitments the organization would, as applicable, reduce emissions, effluents, and waste to levels set by the organization.

How it will affect organizations certified to ISO 14001:2004?

Organizations are granted a 3 year transition period after the revision has been published to migrate their environmental management system to the new edition of the standard. After the transition period companies that opt for third-party certification will have to seek certification to the new version of the standard. The former version, ISO 14001:2004, and any certification to it, will be out of date.