Now, is an important time for any person or organisation that relies on the use and certification to ISO 14001.
As you will already know, the International Standard for Environmental Management, ISO 14001, is currently under revision, to ensure it remains relevant to the business issues and challenges which organizations face today and in the near future.
Over the past months, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has considered the global feedback on the Committee Draft (CD) and is, now, able to move the revision process to the next stage for a Draft International Standard (DIS).
ISO DIS 14001 has, now, been released as the official Draft International Standard for Public Comment (DPC) for purchase through the ISO website or locally, through the National Standards Bodies, such as BSI in the United Kingdom.
If you are interested in commenting on the ISO DIS 14001, which I strongly advise as this may be the last opportunity to influence the drafting of the International Standard before the FDIS (Final Draft International Standard). The FDIS will be the precursor to the final International Standard being published in 2015.
One option is to purchase an electronic copy of the ISO DIS 14001. The BSI website has it available for £40 (£36 for members) – see http://bit.ly/1mXO2Pc
An alternative is to view the text from ISO DIS 14001 and to make comments directly to BSI “free of change”. You should go to their Draft Review section of their website at http://bit.ly/1kthUmC, where you will need to register for free access.
Whichever method you use, please take time to review ISO DIS 14001 as it will have significant influence over Environmental Management Systems for at least the next five years. The deadline for comment on the ISO DIS 14001 to BSI is 31 October 2014.