Did you know that ISO 14001:2015 like other ISO requirements Standards are reviewed each five years with a potential for withdrawal, amendment and approval for a further five years?
The clock is ticking…
ISO (International Organization for Standardization), who develops ISO Standards in conjunction with experts from National Standards Bodies (NSBs), has a process for the development and maintenance of its ISO documents.
It is not enough for ISO to simply publish a International Standard. Each ISO Standard needs to remain current and relevant. ISO has a process through which it ensures that each ISO Standard remains up to date.
This process is referred to as the “systematic review”, which is undertaken once every five years for requirements Standards, such as ISO 14001:2015.
ISO / TC 207 / SC1, the Sub-Committee responsible for ISO 14001:2015 and other associated environmental standards, has an important role to play in starting the review and for the coordination of the views of National Standards Bodies (NSBs), which in turn, are coordinated through their National Mirror Committees.
Additionally, each National Standards Body (NSB), such as BSI in the United Kingdom and ANSI in the United States will need to vote through a ballot in one of three options; withdrawal, retention or amendment.
According to the ISO website, this process was opened on 15 July 2020 and is anticipated to be concluded by the end of this year, which marks the fifth anniversary of the publication of ISO 14001:2015 on 15 September 2015.
It is not anticipated that ISO 14001:2015 would be withdrawn as it is a hugely important and widely used Standard.
There may not be an appetite for the revision of ISO 14001:2015 as previous ISO 14001 Standards had an extended lifecycle of ten years (cf. ISO 14001:1996 had a life-span of eight years & similarly, ISO 14001:2004, also, at eight years).
So the likely outcome is for ISO 14001:2015 to be endorsed for a further five years without amendment.
There are no specific actions that users of ISO 14001:2015 need to undertake at this moment, other than to note the Ballot process and potential outcomes.
However, it is possible to make your comments known through your National Mirror Committee, either directly as a Committee Member or to feed your comments to the National Mirror Committee.
The final position is expected to be available following the international ballot of National Standards Bodies later in December 2020.
| ACTION POINTS 1. Note the Ballot process for the systematic review of ISO 14001:2015 2. Make your comments known through your National Mirror Committee 3. Monitor the Ballot process and outcome for any impact on ISO 14001:2015 |
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