ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems - revision now open for public comment; new edition anticipated by end of 2015

The revision of ISO 14001, one of ISO’s most widely used standards, is now open for public comment (DIS stage), with an updated version due by the end of 2015.

According to ISO, the future ISO 14001:2015 will respond to latest trends and ensure it is compatible with other management system standards such as ISO 9001. It will include a requirement to understand the organization’s context in order to better manage risk, with more emphasis made on leaders within organizations to promote environmental management. In addition there will be a shift toward improving environmental performance rather than improving the management system.

ISO 14001 is currently at the Draft International Stage (DIS), the fourth stage of a six stage process, whereby anyone who is interested can submit feedback to the experts on the technical committee that is revising the standard. Submit all contributions and comments via your national member body (Standards Council of Canada).

Once all comments have been considered and the draft is approved, the standard will move into the Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) stage before publication. Organizations are granted a three-year transition period after the revision has been published to migrate their environmental management system to the new edition of the standard. After this transition period, companies that opt for third party certification will have to seek certification to the new version of the standard.
 
Access information note on scope, process, time lines and emerging changes 
The draft version of ISO 14001:2015 is now available for purchase ($58.00):


Canadian Water and Wastewater Association