ISO 14001 provides for self certification.

Implementing partners audit certification

The companies were generally among the first to obtain ISO 9000 certification of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

ISO 14001 has contributed significantly to the development of an EMS certification industry.

In Argentina, ten firms had obtained ISO 14001 certification by 31 March 1997.

However, ISO 14001 certification by itself does not ensure continuous compliance with environmental legislation.

In addition, certification to ISO 14001 can be seen as demonstrating compliance with national environmental legislation.

In a 1996 survey, 51 per cent of companies expressed an interest in ISO 14001 certification.

On the question of audit certification for implementing partners, new instructions

52. The issue of audit certification was extensively addressed by delegations.

EC 48 SC CRP.41 Implementing Partners Compliance with Audit Certification

However, some experts expected that new trading opportunities will be opened if companies have ISO 14001 certification.

For widespread confidence in ISO 14001 certification, each country will need to have a rigorous and reliable mechanism to support accreditation of certification bodies and provide assurance that certification is done rigorously and fairly.

Two elements are important in determining the costs of participation in the ISO 14000 certification standard (a) the incremental costs in meeting the requirements of an EMS like ISO 14001 (e.g. setting up and maintaining an EMS, hiring consultants, meeting company determined performance goals) and (b) costs of certification and registration to ISO 14001.

In April 1997, five companies obtained ISO 14001 certification, i.e. one car manufacturer and four public utility companies.

The international value of ISO 14001 certification, however, depends on the confidence that others have in the body that performs the certification and in the process it uses.

Some experts estimate that the costs of ISO 14000 certification could be as much as a third higher than those for ISO 9000, due to the complexity of the ISO 14000 standard and the lack of qualified people.

Certification issues have a considerable bearing on the ability of ISO 14001 to act as a barrier to trade.

ISO 14001 may act as a non tariff barrier to trade if certification is costly or difficult to achieve.

The ISO 14001 standard may result in a de facto barrier to trade if companies have difficulties in obtaining certification.

Finally, demands by customers and importers in developed country markets need not go as far as requesting ISO 14001 certification.

Thirdly, many developing country firms wanting to participate in ISO 14000 tend to depend largely on consultancy services provided by developed countries, and the success of ISO 14000 registration with local certification bodies in developing countries will depend largely on the acceptability of such certification in the importing country.

The costs of certification carried out by local ISO registrars in developing countries tend to be much lower.A. Davie, quot ISO 14001 Issues for Developing Countries quot , in Christopher Sheldon (ed.), op. cit..

6. Experts stressed that certification and accreditation should be fair and rigorous to safeguard the credibility of the ISO 14001 certificate.

Experience with ISO 9000 shows that the absence of the necessary infrastructure in developing countries reduces the chances of achieving certification.

An important question in this context is whether having an ISO 14001 certification may lower any burden arising from such requirements.

Pilot schemes provide opportunities for mutual learning by the local certification bodies and firms in interpreting the requirements of ISO 14001.

The Government has played a dominant role in promoting ISO 14001, including providing grants to defray costs for companies seeking certification.

Trade considerations play an important role in the implementation of ISO 14001 and the establishment of certification facilities in developing countries.

Ministries and other government agencies in some countries may consider ISO 14001 certification as a condition for participation in government procurement bids.

NEPA has developed pilot programmes for ISO 14001 certification, training programmes for auditors and companies, as well as general awareness raising programmes.

Given the auditors right to access such accounts, the audit certification of UNHCR should not be made contingent on the number of audit certificates available at the time of the audit exercise.

Given the auditors right to access such accounts, the audit certification of UNHCR should not be made contingent on the number of audit certificates available at the time of the audit exercise.

The UNHCR Internal Audit Service Office of Internal Oversight Services conducted a review of the UNHCR implementing partners' audit certification of subprojects for the year 2004.

Several developing countries have already established conformity assessment systems to enable certification by local bodies.ISO apos s TC 207 is not directly responsible for establishing a conformity assessment system to support certification to the ISO 14001 standard.

In April 1997 four Brazilian companies obtained ISO 14001 certification and eight Brazilian companies were about to be ISO 14000 certified, while 50 companies had adopted EMS that are quot ISO 14000 compatible quot .CBI News Bulletin, June 1997, Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries, Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Following previous external audit recommendations on this matter, UNHCR has introduced a new policy on audit certification for implementing partners which will affect projects as of 1 January 2004.

The Office feels that the proposals represent a practical and cost effective approach to the important issue of audit certification.

Several delegations enquired about UNHCR apos s proposals with regard to audit certification, in particular the introduction of the proposed threshold of 100,000, below which audit certificates would not be mandatory.

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As an initial step in improving compliance, UNHCR has made audit certification mandatory for all programme activities undertaken by implementing partners.

26. It was noted that pressures on SMEs to introduce managerial procedures to obtain ISO 14001 certification could detract from the environmental objectives of setting up an EMS.

The results of the strategy have materialised in Singapore, where the three hospital of Gleneagles were the first hospitals in Asia to achieve ISO 9002 international quality certification.

As a first step to ensure that audit certificates are submitted by the implementing partners, UNHCR decided to make the Audit Certification clause mandatory for all the projects as of 1 January 1997.

UNHCR have developed a revised Audit Certification requirement which is being presented to the Standing Committee (see EC 46 SC CRP.45).