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14.12.2011 Official
Journal
of
the
European
Union L
330/25
COMMISSION DECISION
of 7 December 2011
concerning a guide on EU corporate registration, third country and global registration under
Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the voluntary
participation by organisations in a Community eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS)
(notified under document C(2011) 8896)
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2011/832/EU)
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
(3) The
measures
provided
for
in
this
Regulation
are
in
accordance with the opinion of the Committee estab
lished pursuant to Article 49 of Regulation (EC) No
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European
1221/2009,
Union,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009 of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November
Article 1
2009 on the voluntary participation by organisations in a
For the purpose of Article 46(4) and for the purpose of
Community eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS) ( 1 ),
providing additional clarifying information on Article 3 of
and in particular Articles 3 and 46(4) thereof,
Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009, the Commission adopts this
guide on EU corporate, third country and corporate registration
under EMAS.
Whereas:
Article 2
(1) Regulation
(EC)
No
1221/2009
establishes
the
possibility This Decision is addressed to the Member States.
for organisations with multiple sites located in one or
more Member States or third countries to register under
EMAS.
Done at Brussels, 7 December 2011.
(2) Companies
and
other
organisations
with
sites
located
in
For the Commission
different Member States or third countries should receive
additional information and guidance about the possi
Janez POTONIK
bilities to register themselves under EMAS.
Member of the Commission
( 1 ) OJ L 342, 22.12.2009, p. 1.

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ANNEX
Guide on EU corporate, third country and global registration under EMAS (Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009)
1. INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this document is to give guidance on how the European Eco-management and Audit Scheme
(EMAS) works for organisations operating with subsidiaries and sites located in several EU Member States and/or
in third Countries, and to provide specific guidance to Member States, verifiers and organisations who can use it
for registration purposes. This guide is the consequence of Article 46(4) of the EMAS Regulation ( 1 ) which states
that ‘The Commission shall, in cooperation with the Forum of Competent Bodies, develop a guide on registration
of organisations outside the Community’ and of Article 16(3), which states that ‘The Forum of Competent Bodies
shall develop guidance to ensure the consistency of procedures relating to the registration of organisations in
accordance with this Regulation, including renewal of registration and suspension and deletion of organisations
from the register both inside and outside the Community’.
When EMAS was introduced in 1993 it was designed to cover individual sites of organisations from the industrial
and manufacturing sectors. Following the first revision in 2001, EMAS II was opened to all organisations with
multiple sites (located in a Member State of the EU and the EEA as before). EMAS III has opened up further, and
it is now applicable to organisations inside and outside the EU.
Opening up EMAS to third countries provides organisations from all sectors with a tool for achieving a high
environmental performance levels that can be publicly recognised by stakeholders of the European Community.
Member States are free to make a decision as to whether their national competent body/bodies will provide for
the registration of organisations in third countries in accordance with Article 11(1) of the EMAS Regulation.
Registration
Due to the interrelationship between the registration of organisations with multiple sites within the EU and the
registration of organisations outside the EU, there are several different situations that can take place in reality.
This document provides general guidance for cases that competent bodies, environmental verifiers and organi
sations applying for EMAS have to cope with. The following three specific types of situations are analysed:
— Situation 1: Registration of organisations with sites located in more than one EU Member State (EU corporate
registration),
— Situation 2: Registrations of single or corporate organisations with sites located in third countries (third
country registration), and
— Situation 3: Registrations of organisations with sites located in both EU Member States and third countries
(global registration),
In all three procedures, the organisation may apply for one single corporate registration of all or some of those
sites. The choice of the sites to be included in the registration is up to the organisation applying.
Note:
The simple case of an EU national corporate registration is not dealt with in this guidance.
This guidance deals with issues such as:
— identification of the competent body,
— accreditation or licensing of environmental verifiers operating outside the EU,
— coordination among Member States for these procedures,
— legal compliance in third countries,
— renewal, deletion and suspension of corporate registrations.
( 1 ) Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009.

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Requirements within the three situations are often quite similar; however, the use of cross references between the
chapters is restricted to an absolute minimum in order to improve the readability of the text. Therefore,
repetitions may occur.
For the credibility of EMAS it is important that the regulation is applied in a similar fashion inside and outside
the EU. For this purpose, differences and difficulties in implementing some specific elements of EMAS, such as
legal compliance, must be taken into account. Competent bodies in Member States allowing third country
registrations shall adopt specific procedures to ensure that EMAS inside and outside the EU results in equivalent
systems. The historical, economic and cultural relationships among EU Member States and third countries may
drive the implementation of third country and global EMAS and can be used as a way to facilitate EMAS
extension all over the world.
2. TERMINOLOGY
For the purpose of this guidance document, the following terminology will be used:
Headquarters means a management entity at the top of an organisation with multiple sites that controls and
coordinates main functions of the organisation such as strategic planning, communications, tax, legal, marketing,
finance, and others.
Management centre means a site, other than the headquarters of the organisation with multiple sites, specifically
designated for the purpose of registration under the EMAS Regulation, where control and coordination of the
environmental management system is ensured.
Leading competent body means the competent body in charge of the EU corporate registration, third country
and global registration procedure.
Note:
Article 3(3) from the EMAS Regulation deals with the determination of the (leading) competent body.
The determination of the leading competent body may vary according to the ‘Situations’ described above, as
follows:
— In case of situation 1 (EU corporate registration) the leading competent body is the competent body from the
Member State in which the headquarters or the management centre of the applying organisation is located.
— In case of third country and global registration, it is the competent body from the Member State that provides
for registration of organisations from outside the Community and where the verifier has been accredited. In
other words, firstly the Member State has to provide for third country registration and, secondly verifiers that
are accredited or licensed for verifications in those third countries where the sites included in the registration
process are located need to be available.
3. EU
CORPORATE
REGISTRATION
—
REGISTRATION
OF
ORGANISATIONS
WITH
MULTIPLE
SITES
IN
SEVERAL MEMBER STATES
3.1. Applicable
legislation
and
legal
compliance
in
EU
Member
States
3.1.1. Organisations must always be in compliance with EU and national legal requirements applicable to the sites
included in the EMAS registration.
3.1.2. According
to
Annex
IV(B)(g)
to
the
EMAS
Regulation,
the
environmental
statement
of
organisations
shall
include
a reference to the applicable legal requirements relating to the environment.
3.1.3. In order to provide the ‘material or documentary evidence of legal compliance’ as referred to in Article 4(4) of the
EMAS Regulation, the organisation may provide statements from the competent enforcement authorities ensuring
that there is no evidence of non-compliance and/or that the company is not involved in relevant enforcement
procedures, lawsuits or complaint procedures. Verifiers shall — as a part of the verification procedure — check all
environmental licences or permits applicable to the organisation or any other kind of evidence in accordance
with the legal system operating in the Member State where the site is located.
3.2. Tasks
of
the
competent
bodies
3.2.1. In case of EU corporate registration, the location of the headquarters or management centre (in that order) of the
organisation is decisive in determining who the leading competent body is.

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3.2.2. In case of EU corporate registration the leading competent body cooperates solely with all the competent
bodies located in the Member States where sites, included in the corporate registration process, are located.
3.2.3. The leading competent body is responsible for the registration and will coordinate the procedure with other
relevant competent bodies.
The leading competent body shall not register, suspend, delete or renew registration of an organisation if the
competent body from another Member State, where the sites of the organisation included in the registration are
located, does not agree with the registration, suspension, deletion or renewal (see 3.4. and 3.6 of this guidance).
As stated in section 3.4.6 the leading competent body can also decide to proceed with a corporate registration
procedure with a smaller scope (e.g. without the disputed site).
3.2.4. Competent
bodies
should
coordinate
their
activities
with
the
accreditation
and
licensing
bodies
in
their
Member
States, in order to ensure that both the competent body and the accreditation or licensing body are able to fulfil
their respective tasks in a coordinated way.
3.2.5. General principles and specific coordination procedures between competent bodies shall, within six months of the
adoption of this guidance document, be set up and approved by the Forum of Competent Bodies. They will then
be submitted for adoption in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny as referred to in Articles
48(2) and 49(3) of the EMAS Regulation.
3.2.6. The Forum of Competent Bodies will develop standardised forms in all official languages of the European Union
for implementing the ‘coordination procedures’ referred to above. In order to enable an efficient communication
while minimising misunderstandings resulting from language difficulties, the standardised forms will mainly
consist of tick-boxes and only a very limited number of ‘commenting’ fields that can contain free text.
Written evidence of this communication, by means of regular mails, e-mails or faxes, should be kept in the
event of disputes among competent bodies.
The abovementioned forms should include, as an updatable attachment, a list of applicable fees related to all
Member States.
3.3. Tasks
of
the
accredited
or
licensed
verifiers
3.3.1. General rules applicable to EMAS environmental verifiers, their accreditation or licence, and to the verification
process are established in Chapters V and VI of the EMAS Regulation.
3.3.2. The verification of the environmental management system and the validation of the EMAS environmental
statement must be done by an EMAS environmental verifier who is accredited or licensed for the relevant
scope in accordance with the NACE codes ( 1 ).
3.3.3. In case of registration of an organisation with multiple sites and activities, the accreditation of the verifier(s)
has/have to cover all the NACE codes of the organisation’s sites and activities. If a verifier is not accredited or
licensed for all relevant NACE codes, other accredited environmental verifiers shall be involved as appropriate
through case-cooperation. It is up to an organisation seeking for registration to decide if it wants to involve
several accredited verifiers taking into account Article 4 of the EMAS Regulation. Apart from reasons such as the
lack of verifiers accredited for the relevant NACE codes, organisations might also have other reasons (e.g. local
experience, language knowledge or the desire to combine the EMAS verification with certification against other
standards) to use several verifiers. All cooperating verifiers have to sign the declaration referred to in Article 25(9)
of the EMAS Regulation and the EMAS environmental statement. Each verifier involved is responsible for the
outcome of that part(s) of the verification that results from his/her own area of expertise (mostly related to
specific NACE codes). The practice that all verifiers must sign the same declaration enables the leading competent
body to identify all involved verifiers. Consequently the leading competent body can verify, via the cooperating
competent bodies (who should in turn coordinate their activities with the accreditation and licensing bodies), if all
the involved verifiers have respected the prior notification obligation as stated in Article 23(2) of the EMAS
Regulation. It also enables the leading competent body to verify if the NACE codes of the involved verifiers cover
those of the organisation in question.
3.3.4. Verifiers accredited or licensed in one Member State are allowed to operate in other Member States. Verifiers shall
send a notification to the accreditation or licensing body located in the Member State/s where they intend to
operate at least four weeks in advance of starting their activities.
( 1 ) As established in Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 establishing the
statistical classification of economic activities NACE Revision 2 and amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90 as well as certain
EC Regulations on specific statistical domains (OJ L 393, 30.12.2006, p. 1).

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3.3.5. The accreditation or licensing body supervising the verifier(s) performing in its Member State shall send a
supervision report in case of problems/negative results to the competent body in that Member State. This
competent body shall then transfer the supervision report to the leading competent body in charge of the EU
corporate registration.
3.3.6. If a verifier detects a non-compliance situation at the time of verification for the first registration, he/she shall not
sign the declaration referred to in Article 25(9) of the EMAS Regulation and the EMAS environmental statement.
3.3.7. If a verifier detects a case of non-compliance in the period of validity of the registration or at the time of renewal,
he/she can report to the (leading) competent body that the organisation in question does not comply with the
EMAS requirements any longer. At the time of renewal of the EMAS registration he/she may only sign the
declaration referred to in Article 25(9) and the updated EMAS environmental statement if the organisation
demonstrates that it took measures (i.e. in cooperation with the enforcement authorities) to ensure that legal
compliance is restored. If the organisation does not provide sufficient measures to solve the compliance problem,
the verifier shall not validate the updated statement and not sign the declaration and the EMAS environmental
statement. In other words the EMAS environmental verifier shall sign the declaration and validate the EMAS
environmental statement only in case of full compliance.
3.4. Registration
process
3.4.1. General
rules applicable
to the Registration
are established
in Chapters
II, III and IV of the EMAS Regulation.
3.4.2. The organisation should communicate at an early stage with the verifier(s) and leading competent body to clarify
language issues with regard to the documents necessary for registration, keeping in mind the requirements of
Article 5(3) and Annex IV (D) to the EMAS Regulation.
3.4.3. The leading competent body shall check the information contained in the application and it shall communicate
on this with the other involved competent bodies. This means that the leading competent body is informed by
the involved competent bodies about the validity of the information of the involved national sites.
3.4.4. The competent bodies involved shall check, via their accreditation and licensing bodies, for their own Member
States whether the verifier(s) involved in the registration procedure is (are) accredited or licensed for all the NACE
codes concerned in the registration process. This implies that the competent body checks whether the verifier(s)
has/have made proper and timely (at least four weeks in advance of each verification in a Member State)
notification, in accordance with Article 24(1) of the EMAS Regulation. Therefore the competent body must
communicate to the accreditation or licensing body of its Member State, in any case a simple message that there
are sites to be registered on the basis of verification/validation activities of verifiers from other Member States. If
the verifier’s competence is not approved by the accreditation and licensing body, the accreditation or licensing
body can compel the verifier to comply with the relevant requirements or inform the competent body about the
problem. Without this minimum communication between the competent bodies and the accreditation and
licensing bodies as well as between the competent bodies and the leading competent body, the supervision
activities could be undermined.
3.4.5. All
competent
bodies
involved
in
the
registration
process
will
apply
their
national
procedures
to
check,
for
the
sites located in their Member State, compliance with the EMAS Regulation. They will inform the leading
competent body about their decision (can be registered/cannot be registered). In case of a negative decision
the competent body shall inform the leading competent body of the motivation thereof in form of a statement.
Since this statement is binding, the leading competent body can either decide to stop the corporate registration
procedure until the requirements of the regulation are fulfilled (in which case none of the sites will be EMAS
registered), or inform the organisation that they can proceed with a corporate registration procedure without the
disputed site.
3.4.6. Following the registration decision, the leading competent body shall inform all national competent bodies
involved, who will inform their respective enforcement authorities.
Note:
The European Commission encourages the competent bodies involved to exchange contact details of their
respective enforcement authorities to facilitate the exchange of information between competent bodies and
enforcement authorities about the latter not being aware of any situations of non-compliance.
3.4.7. Monitoring of legal compliance at national level is ensured by the national enforcement authorities and by
verifiers during the verification process. If these authorities detect a non-compliance situation they must
inform the national competent body, who in its turn shall inform the leading competent body.

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3.4.8. If a competent body in the Member State where a site of the organisation applying for the corporate registration
in question is located finds evidence of breach of applicable legal requirements, complaints or any other relevant
information, to meet the requirements concerning registration, renewal, suspension and deletion, they shall
without any delay transmit to the leading competent body a supervision report outlining the problem.
3.4.9. Some Member States are obliged to charge fees according to their national legislation. Consequently, the leading
competent body is not in a position to decide on fees which are set according to the legislation of other Member
States. The role of the leading competent body regarding fees will merely consist of informing the organisation of
the total amount and the individual fees to be paid to the national competent bodies involved in the registration
procedure. The leading competent body will also inform the organisation that all competent bodies involved
charge the fees resulting from registering the national sites involved in a corporate registration procedure directly
to the respective national sites of the applicant organisation.
All involved competent bodies shall inform the leading competent body that fees have been effectively paid
before registration, as required by Article 5(2)(d) of the EMAS Regulation.
Note:
The European Commission strongly encourages all Member States to investigate possibilities to lower applicable
fees to organisations that apply for corporate registration. In corporate registration cases, only the leading
competent body will have administrative costs comparable to those of a regular registration, while competent
bodies involved will be less engaged and thus have lower costs. Lower fees will increase the attractiveness of the
EMAS scheme and corporate registration.
3.4.10. All competent bodies involved should charge the fees resulting from registering the national sites involved in a
corporate registration procedure directly to the respective national sites of the applicant organisation.
3.5. Already
registered
organisations
3.5.1. If
an
organisation
already
registered
decides
to
go
for
EU
corporate
registration,
the
leading
competent
body
may,
upon request of the organisation, extend the scope of the existing registration, thus maintaining the existing
number in the national register. The entry should also be recorded with the new registration number in the
national register. In those cases, all the other involved competent bodies from Member States where the
organisation has already registered sites shall ensure that the existing registrations will be registered under the
new registration number in their respective registers.
3.6. Deletion
and
suspension
of
registrations
3.6.1. General rules for suspension and deletion established in Article 15 of the EMAS Regulation shall be applicable to
this specific procedure.
3.6.2. Any complaint concerning the registered organisation shall be notified to the leading competent body.
3.6.3. Every competent body is in charge of the procedures related to the sites of the organisation in the respective
Member State. If a case occurs in which an organisation must be suspended or deleted from the EMAS Register,
the cooperating competent body informs the leading competent body via a statement of its point of view. This
means that the national competent bodies only issue statements about their respective national sites. If one of
these statements confirms that a national site cannot be registered, the leading competent body starts the
procedure for deletion or suspension, while observing the requirements of Article 15 of the EMAS Regulation.
Before making any final decision on deletion or suspension of the organisation, the leading competent body
should inform the other cooperating competent bodies involved, so that they know about the reasons for
suspension/deletion by one or more competent bodies. The leading competent body also should inform the
headquarters or the management centre of the organisation about the decision made and the reasons for the
proposed deletion or suspension. Subsequently, the leading competent body gives the organisation the oppor
tunity to decide if the whole organisation shall be deleted from the EMAS Register or if the disputed sites will be
removed from the scope of the corporate registration.
3.6.4. Disputes
between
individual
national
competent
bodies
involved
in
the
corporate
registration
procedure
shall
be
settled within the Forum of competent bodies. Disputes between the leading competent body and the organi
sation will be settled according to national law of the country in which the leading competent body is situated.
Disputes between the organisation and individual competent bodies, e.g. about the legal compliance situation of
individual national sites included in the corporate registration procedure, will be settled according to the
applicable national law of the Member State in question. Disputes will be settled in line with the requirements
of Article 15 of the EMAS Regulation.

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3.6.5. If
no
settlement
can
be
achieved
between
the
competent
bodies
involved
within
the
Forum
of
competent
bodies,
the registration procedure can eventually be continued without the disputed sites.
3.7. Language
issues
3.7.1. The EMAS environmental statement and other relevant documents shall be submitted in (one of) the official
language(s) of the Member State in which the leading competent body is situated (Article 5(3)). If an organisation
presents a corporate environmental statement with information on individual sites, this information shall, in
addition, be in (one of) the official language(s) of those Member States where the sites are located.
4.
THIRD COUNTRY REGISTRATION — REGISTRATION OF ORGANISATIONS WITH ONE OR MULTIPLE SITES
IN THIRD COUNTRIES (SITUATION 2)
EMAS third country registration means EMAS registration of an organisation operating in one or more third
countries. Under the EMAS Regulation, Member States are free to make a decision whether their national
competent body(s) will provide for the registration of organisations in third countries in accordance with
Article 11(1) of the EMAS Regulation.
4.1. Applicable
legislation
and
legal
compliance
in
third
countries
4.1.1. Organisations
must
always
be
in
compliance
with
the
respective
national
legal
requirements
of
the
third
countries
where the sites included in the EMAS registration are located.
4.1.2. In order to ensure that the EMAS scheme maintains its high level of ambition and credibility, it is enviable that
the environmental performance of a third country organisation achieves a level as close as possible to the level
that EU organisations are required to meet by the relevant European and national legislation. Therefore it is
desirable for organisations outside the Community, on top of the references made to the applicable national
environmental requirements, to make reference in the environmental statement also to the legal requirements
relating to the environment applicable to similar organisations in the Member State where the organisation
intends to apply for registration (Article 4(4) of the EMAS Regulation). The environmental requirements on
that list should be used as a reference when setting eventual higher additional performance targets, but they are
not binding for the assessment of the organisation’s legal compliance.
4.1.3. According
to
Annex
IV(B)(g)
to
the
EMAS
Regulation,
the
environmental
statement
of
organisations
shall
include
a reference to the applicable national environmental legal requirements.
4.1.4. For sites located in third countries, the documentary evidence as mentioned in Article 4(4) of the EMAS
Regulation should preferably consist of:
— statements from enforcement authorities of the third country including information on the environmental
permits applicable to the organisation and stating that there is no evidence of non-compliance and/or that the
company is not involved in enforcement procedures, lawsuits or complaint procedures,
— additionally, the environmental statement should preferably also contain cross reference tables between the
national legislation of the third country and the legislation in the country where the organisation applies for
registration as mentioned in section 4.1.2.
4.2. EMAS
third
country
accreditation
and
licensing
4.2.1. Member
States
shall
make
a
decision
on
whether
to
provide
for
third
country
registration
or
not,
in
accordance
with their means and operational procedures. In this case, Member States shall ensure that their national
accreditation bodies or licensing bodies will provide for accreditation or licensing of environmental verifiers
for third country EMAS. Only Member States that accept the principle of ‘third country registration’ are entitled
to register organisations operating in third countries.
4.2.2. If a Member State decides to provide for third country registration, according to Article 3(3) from the EMAS
Regulation, the possibility to get a registration from that specific Member State will in practice depend on the
availability of accredited verifiers. The potential verifier should be accredited in that specific Member State that
provides for third country registration, for that specific third country and for the specific economic sector(s)
involved (determined based on NACE codes) in the given registration procedure.
Clarifying comment:
This means that the verifier who shall perform the verification in a given third country must be accredited for
that specific third country by the accreditation and licensing body of the Member State that provides for
registrations from third countries and where the organisation intends to register.

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4.2.3. The accreditation or license that verifiers can obtain for third countries must state for which third countries it is
valid, so that the registration allowance is consistent with the provisions of Article 22(2) of the EMAS Regulation.
It is up to the Member States to decide if they want to issue separate certificates for each third country or issue an
overall accreditation certificate with a geographical appendix, listing the countries in which the verification bodies
are accredited to operate in, attached.
Clarifying comment:
Taking into account Article 22, ‘additional requirements for environmental verifiers active in third countries’ it is
clear that accreditation/licensing for third countries can only be an additional accreditation/licensing to a basic
accreditation/licensing for Europe. This implies that third country accreditation/licensing is granted as an addi
tional requirement to general accreditation/licensing in a certain scope and its requirements. Consequently
accreditation/licensing for third countries will have to include accreditation/licensing for one of the Member
States and within a certain scope.
Once a verifier is accredited or licensed in one Member State he/she is free to perform verifying activities in other
Member States in accordance with Article 24 of the Regulation.
4.3. Tasks
of
the
competent
body
4.3.1. A Member State that has more than one competent body should determine to which competent body appli
cations for third country registrations can be made, which should be the same one as the one designated
according to section 5.3.1.
4.3.2. The application for third country registration from organisations with sites located exclusively in third countries is
made to any competent body designated for this purpose in those Member States where the following conditions
are met:
(a) the Member State provides for registration of organisations from third countries;
(b) accredited or licensed verifiers are available for verifications in the third countries where the sites included in
the registration are located, and that these verifiers cover the relevant NACE codes (in other words, the
decision for choosing a verifier determines the Member State of registration and vice versa).
4.3.3. The competent bodies should coordinate their activities with the accreditation and licensing bodies in their
Member States in order to ensure that whenever the Member States provide for registration of organisations
from third countries both the competent body and the accreditation or licensing body are able to fulfil their
respective tasks in a coordinated way.
4.4. Tasks
of
the
accredited
or
licensed
verifiers
4.4.1. General rules applicable to EMAS environmental verifiers, their accreditation or licence and to verification process
are established in Chapters V and VI of the EMAS Regulation.
4.4.2. Those Member States that allow third country registration must put in place a specific system to accredit or
license verifiers for third countries. Verifier accreditation or licensing will be granted country by country as an
add-on to a general accreditation or licence, in accordance with the specifications described in this section.
4.4.3. The
verifier(s)
must
be
accredited
or
licensed
for
all
the
NACE
codes
of
the
organisation’s
activities
related
to
the
sites of this organisation which are to be included in the registration procedure. Due to the potentially wide scope
of activities, organisations have the possibility to use several accredited verifiers as they see fit. In fact it might be
difficult if not impossible to appoint a single verifier for all the activities of large organisations. If the verifier is
not accredited or licensed for the relevant NACE codes himself/herself, other environmental verifiers shall be
involved as appropriate through case-cooperation. It is up to an organisation seeking for registration to decide if
it wants to involve several accredited/licensed verifiers taking into account Article 4 of the EMAS Regulation.
Apart from reasons such as the lack of verifiers accredited for the relevant NACE codes organisations might also
have other reasons (e.g. local experience, language knowledge or the desire to combine the EMAS verification
with certification against other standards) to use several verifiers.
4.4.4. All cooperating verifiers have to sign the declaration referred to in Article 25(9) and the EMAS environmental
statement. Each verifier involved is responsible for the outcome of that part(s) of the verification that results from
his/her own area of expertise (mostly related to specific NACE codes). The practice that all verifiers must sign the
same declaration enables the competent body to identify all involved verifiers. Consequently the competent body
can verify, via the accreditation and licensing bodies, if all the involved verifiers have respected the prior
notification obligation as stated in Article 23(2) of the EMAS Regulation. It also enables the competent body
to verify if the NACE codes of the involved verifiers cover those of the organisation in question.

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4.4.5. Verifiers who want to operate in third countries must obtain a specific accreditation or licence for the specific
country in question as an add-on to a general accreditation or licence, in accordance with the specifications laid
out in the EMAS Regulation. This means they must have:
(a) a specific accreditation or licence for the NACE codes applicable to the organisation;
(b) knowledge and understanding of the legislative, regulatory and administrative requirements relating to the
environment in the third country for which accreditation or licence is sought;
(c) knowledge and understanding of the official language of the third country for which accreditation or licence
is sought.
4.4.6. Verifiers shall — as a part of the verification procedure — check all environmental licences or permits applicable
to the organisation or any other kind of evidence in accordance with the legal system operating in the countries
covered by the application.
4.4.7. In third countries, the verifier shall, on top of his regular duties, perform in particular an in depth check of the
legal compliance of an organisation and of its sites included in the registration process. Thereby, specifically
considering the content of Article 13(2)(c) of the EMAS Regulation, verifiers shall check that there is no evidence
of non-compliance relating to the environment. Verifiers should use the findings of enforcement authorities and
should thus contact those authorities in order to obtain detailed information about the legal compliance. The
verifier must check if he/she is satisfied on the basis of material evidence received, for example through a written
report from the competent enforcement authority. If no evidence for non-compliance is found, this shall be
declared in the environmental verifier’s declaration on verification and validation activities (Annex VII to the
EMAS Regulation). This declaration is to be signed by the verifier. The verifier has the duty to check if the
requirements of the EMAS Regulation are satisfied through usual audit techniques which are to be conducted in
accordance with the EMAS Regulation. In order to ensure an equal level of quality of registration of the third
country sites compared to similar sites in the EU, the verifier might consider performing a risk assessment
evaluation.
4.4.8. In accordance with Article 13(2)(d) of the EMAS Regulation, the verifier should check if there are no relevant
complaints from interested parties or that complaints have been positively solved.
4.4.9. Those Member States that provide for third country registration shall consider putting in place measures to
strengthen the accreditation process in order to ensure that verifiers accredited for specific third countries are
knowledgeable to check compliance of the organisation with the applicable national legislation in the third
country.
4.4.10. Member States that provide for third country registration may consider putting in place optional specific
provisions to reinforce the checking of legal compliance and ensure a registration process, similar to that in
the EU. Member States may in particular consider the possibility of concluding agreements (bilateral agreement,
memorandum of understanding, etc.). Such agreements could include a procedure to communicate legal
compliance between the respective enforcement authority in the third country and the Member State, as well
as how to communicate breaches of applicable legal requirements to the Member State’s competent body in the
time between the initial registration or renewal and the next renewal.
4.4.11. At least six weeks before verification or validation in a third country, the environmental verifier shall notify its
accreditation or licence details and the time and place of the verification or validation to the accreditation or
licensing body of the Member State in which the organisation concerned intends to apply for registration or is
registered. The competent body of the Member State in which the sites are intended to be registered can also be
notified.
4.4.12. If a verifier detects a non-compliance situation at the time of registration, he/she shall not sign the EMAS
environmental statement and the declaration referred to in Article 25(9) of the Regulation.
4.4.13. If a verifier detects a case of non-compliance in the period of validity of the registrations or at the time of
renewal, he/she can report to the competent body that the organisation in question does not comply with the
EMAS requirements any longer. At the time of renewal he/she may only sign the declaration referred to in
Article 25(9) and the updated EMAS environmental statement, if the organisation demonstrates that it took
adequate measures (i.e. in cooperation with the enforcement authorities) to ensure that legal compliance is
restored. If the organisation can not demonstrate to the verifier to have taken sufficient measures to restore
legal compliance, the verifier shall not validate the updated statement and not sign the declaration and the EMAS
environmental statement.

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4.5. Registration
process
4.5.1. The organisation should communicate at an early stage with the verifier(s) and the competent body to clarify
language issues with regard to the documents necessary for registration, keeping in mind the requirements of
Article 5(3) and Annex IV(D) to the EMAS Regulation.
4.5.2. Before application for registration is sent to the competent body, the organisation shall provide material or
documentary evidence to the verifier that there is no proof of non-compliance with the applicable legal
requirements relating to the environment as described in section 4.1.4 of this guidance.
4.5.3. After fulfilling the EMAS requirements, specifically those applicable to the registration process listed in Annex II
of the Regulation, and having the EMAS environmental statement validated by an accredited or licensed verifier,
the organisation shall send the application form, and the related documents including Annexes VI and VII, for
registration to the competent body.
4.5.4. The competent body shall check the information contained in the application, and, for that purpose, the
competent body shall communicate with the national accreditation or licensing body.
4.5.5. The accreditation and licensing body shall assess, the environmental verifier’s competence in the light of the
elements set out in Articles 20, 21 and 22 of the EMAS Regulation. If the verifier’s competence is not approved,
the accreditation and licensing body can compel the verifier to comply with the relevant requirements and inform
the competent body about the problem. Vice versa the competent body must communicate to the accreditation
or licensing body in any case a simple message that a registration application has been received ant that there are
sites of third countries to be registered. After receiving such a message the accreditation and licensing body
should communicate their findings regarding the verifier(s) involved to the competent body. This facilitates the
final check by the competent body whether the verifier(s) involved in the registration procedure is (are) accredited
or licensed for all the NACE codes concerned in the registration process. Without this minimum communication
between the competent body and the accreditation and licensing body the supervision activities could be
undermined.
4.5.6. The competent body in charge of the registration will coordinate checking the legal compliance based on the
information the organisation has supplied to the verifier. Only in the case where a Member State has put in place
special agreements with third countries, that include provisions that allow the Member State to contact
enforcement authorities in the third countries, can they check legal compliance with the enforcement authorities
in third countries directly. If not the competent body has to rely on the verifier and/or the organisation to obtain
material or documentary evidence demonstrating compliance with the applicable legal requirements.
4.6. Deletion
and
suspension
of
registrations
4.6.1. The competent body shall follow the general rules established in the EMAS Regulation regarding deletion and
suspension.
4.6.2. Any complaint concerning the registered organisation shall be notified to the competent body.
4.6.3. Organisations from third countries aspiring to an EMAS Registration and willing to start a registration procedure
must accept that the verifier may be asked by the competent body to verify potential causes of deletion or
suspension which might happen in the third country where the sites are located before making any decision. The
organisation shall cooperate and answer all questions concerning possible reasons for suspension and deletion to
the verifier or to the competent body. The organisation must also be willing to bear the costs of the verifier’s
work to clarify the situation.
4.6.4. Agreements,
whenever
they
have
been
signed
between
the
Member
State
responsible
for
the
registration
and
the
third country, could include specific provisions to ensure legal monitoring and active communication of breaches
from the enforcement authorities in the third country to the competent body.
4.6.5. In
all
situations,
even
when
such
agreements
exist,
the
verifier
shall
be
responsible
for
checking
legal
compliance.
Potential complaints and non-conformities that might result in the deletion or suspension of the registration must
be included in the compliance checks.
4.6.6. NGOs operating in the third country could be consulted and used as a source of information. In any case, the
verifier shall report to the competent body any relevant information that is retrieved during the verification
process.

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4.7. Language
issues
4.7.1. The
EMAS
environmental
statement
and
other
relevant
documents
shall
be
submitted
for
the
purpose
of
regis
tration in (one of) the official language(s) of the Member State in which the competent body is located
(Article 5(3)). If an organisation presents a corporate environmental statement with information on individual
sites located in different third countries, this information should, in addition, be in (one of) the official language(s)
of those third countries where the sites are located.
5.
GLOBAL REGISTRATION — ORGANISATION WITH MULTIPLE SITES IN MEMBER STATES AND IN THIRD
COUNTRIES (SITUATION 3)
EMAS global registration means the registration of an organisation with multiple sites inside and outside the EU
applying for a single registration of all the sites or part of them in a Member State that provides for third country
registration.
Registration with multiple sites in Member States and in third countries is a complex procedure that represents a
combination of the two procedures already described: EU corporate registration and third country registration.
This section elucidates aspects that differ from what is described in sections 3 and 4 of this guidance.
5.1. Applicable
legislation
and
legal
compliance
in
Member
States
and
third
countries
5.1.1. Organisations must always be in compliance with EU and national legal requirements applicable to the sites
included in the EMAS registration.
5.1.2. In order to ensure that the EMAS scheme maintains its high level of ambition and credibility, it is enviable that
the environmental performance of a third country organisation achieves a level as close as possible to the level
that EU organisations are required to meet by the relevant European and national legislation. Therefore it is
desirable for organisations with sites outside the Community, on top of the references made to the applicable
national environmental requirements, to make reference in the environmental statement also to the legal
requirements relating to the environment applicable to similar organisations in the Member State where the
organisation intends to apply for registration (Article 4(4) of the EMAS Regulation). The environmental
requirements on that list should be used as a reference when setting additional higher performance targets,
but they are not relevant for the assessment of the organisation’s legal compliance.
5.1.3. For sites located in third countries, the documentary evidence as mentioned in Article 4(4) of the Regulation
should consist of:
— statements from enforcement authorities of the third country including information on the environmental
permits applicable to the organisation and stating that there is no evidence of non-compliance and/or that the
company is not involved in enforcement procedures, lawsuits or complaint procedures;
— additionally, the environmental statement should preferably also contain cross reference tables between the
national legislation of the third country and the legislation in the country where the organisation applies for
registration as mentioned in section 5.1.2.
5.2. Accreditation
and
licensing
5.2.1. The provisions described in section 4.2 concerning EMAS third country accreditation and licensing, apply.
5.3. Tasks
of
the
competent
bodies
5.3.1. A Member State that has more than one competent body should determine to which competent body appli
cations for global registration can be made, which should be the same competent body as the one designated
under section 4.3.1.
5.3.2. The
application
for
global
registration,
i.e.
from
organisations
with
sites
located
in
EU
Member
States
and
in
third
countries, is made to any competent body designated for this purpose in one of the Member States where the
following conditions are met:
(a) the Member State provides for registration of organisations from outside the EU;
(b) accredited or licensed verifiers for verifications in third countries where the sites included in the registration
are located are available, and that the accreditation or licensing of these verifiers cover the relevant NACE
codes.

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5.3.3. The determination of the Member State where the competent body in charge of this procedure will be located is
established on the basis of conditions in the following order of preference:
(1) when the organisation has headquarters in one Member States that provides for third country registration, the
application should be submitted to the competent body in that Member State;
(2) if the headquarters of the organisation is not located in a Member State that provides for third country
registration, but it has a Management Centre there, the application should be submitted to the competent
body in that Member State;
(3) if the organisation that applies for Global registration has neither headquarters nor a Management Centre in
any Member State that provides for third country registrations, then the organisation has to set up an ‘ad hoc’
management centre in a Member State that provides for third country registration, and the application should
be submitted to the competent body in that Member State.
5.3.4. If more than one Member State is covered by the application, the coordination procedure between the involved
competent bodies, as established in section 3.2. must be followed. Then that competent body will act as leading
competent body under the EU Corporate aspects of the procedure.
5.4. Tasks
of
the
accredited
or
licensed
verifiers
5.4.1. General rules applicable to EMAS environmental verifiers, their accreditation or licence, and to the verification
process are established in Chapters V and VI of the EMAS Regulation.
5.4.2. Those Member States that allow third country registration must put in place a specific system to accredit or
license verifiers for third countries. Verifier accreditation or licensing will be granted country by country as an
add-on to a general accreditation or licence, in accordance with the specifications described in this section.
5.4.3. In case of global registration of an organisation with multiple sites and activities, the accreditation of the
verifier(s) has to cover all the NACE codes of the organisation’s sites and activities. For third country sites, the
verifier(s) must be accredited or licensed for all third countries and all the NACE codes of all the sites involved in
the global registration in the Member State where the organisation intends to apply for registration. Due to the
potentially wide scope of activities, organisations have the possibility to use several accredited verifiers as they see
fit. In fact it might be difficult if not impossible to appoint a single verifier for all the activities of large
organisations. If the verifier is not accredited or licensed for the relevant NACE codes or countries himself/herself,
other accredited environmental verifiers shall be involved as appropriate through case-cooperation. It is up to an
organisation seeking for registration to decide if it wants to involve several accredited/licensed verifiers taking into
account Article 4 of the EMAS Regulation. Apart from reasons such as the lack of verifiers accredited for the
relevant NACE codes organisations might also have other reasons (e.g. local experience, language knowledge or
the desire to combine the EMAS verification with certification against other standards) to use several verifiers.
5.4.4. All cooperating verifiers have to sign the declaration referred to in Article 25(9) of the EMAS Regulation and the
EMAS environmental statement. Each verifier involved is responsible for the outcome of that part(s) of the
verification that results from his/her own area of expertise (mostly related to specific NACE codes). The
practice that all verifiers must sign the same declaration enables the leading competent body to identify all
involved verifiers. Consequently the leading competent body can verify, via the cooperating competent bodies
(who should in turn coordinate their activities with the accreditation and licensing bodies), if all the involved
verifiers have respected the prior notification obligation as stated in Article 23(2) of the EMAS Regulation. It also
enables the leading competent body to verify if the NACE codes of the involved verifiers cover those of the
organisation in question.
5.4.5. Verifiers who want to operate in third countries must obtain a specific accreditation or licence for the specific
country in question as an add-on to a general accreditation or licence, in accordance with the specifications laid
out in the EMAS Regulation. This means they must have:
(a) a specific accreditation or licence for the NACE codes applicable to the organisation in question;
(b) knowledge and understanding of the legislative, regulatory and administrative requirements relating to the
environment in the third country for which the accreditation or licence is sought;
(c) knowledge and understanding of the official language of the third country for which accreditation or licence
is sought.

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5.4.6. Verifiers shall — as a part of the verification procedure — check all environmental licences or permits applicable
to the organisation or any other kind of evidence in accordance with the legal system operating in the countries
covered by the application.
5.4.7. In third countries, the verifier shall, on top of his regular duties, perform in particular an in depth check of the
legal compliance of the organisation and of its sites included in the registration process. Thereby, specifically
considering the content of Article 13(2)(c) of the EMAS Regulation, verifiers shall check that there is no evidence
of non-compliance relating to the environment. Verifiers should use the findings of enforcement authorities and
should thus contact those authorities in order to obtain detailed information about the legal compliance. The
verifier must check if he/she is satisfied on the basis of material evidence received, for example through a written
report from the competent enforcement authority. If no evidence for non-compliance is found, this shall be
declared in the environmental verifier’s declaration on verification and validation activities (Annex VII to the
EMAS Regulation). This declaration is to be signed by the verifier. The verifier has the duty to check if the
requirements of the EMAS Regulation are satisfied through usual audit techniques. In order to ensure an equal
level of quality of the third country sites and the EU sites involved in the registration, the verifier might consider
performing a risk assessment evaluation.
5.4.8. In accordance with Article 13(2)(d) of the EMAS Regulation, the verifier should check if there are no relevant
complaints from interested parties or that complaints have been positively solved.
5.4.9. Those Member States that provide for third country registration (and thus also for global registration) shall
consider putting in place measures to strengthen the accreditation process in order to ensure that verifiers
accredited for specific third countries are knowledgeable to check compliance of the organisation with the
applicable national legislation in the third country.
5.4.10. Member States that provide for global registration may consider putting in place optional specific provisions to
reinforce the checking of legal compliance and ensure a registration process, similar to that in the EU. Member
States may in particular consider the possibility of concluding agreements (bilateral agreement, memorandum of
understanding, etc.). Such agreements could include a procedure to communicate legal compliance between the
respective enforcement authority in the third country and the Member State, as well as how to communicate
breaches of applicable legal requirements to the Member State’s competent body in the time between the initial
registration or renewal and the next renewal.
5.4.11. At least six weeks before verification or validation in a third country, the environmental verifier shall notify its
accreditation or licence details and the time and place of the verification or validation to the accreditation or
licensing body of the Member State in which the organisation concerned intends to apply for registration or is
registered. In addition the verifier(s) has/have to notify its accreditation or licence details to all accreditation or
licensing bodies of those Member States where involved sites are located.
5.4.12. If a verifier detects a non-compliance situation at the time of registration, it shall not sign the EMAS environ
mental statement and the declaration referred to in Article 25(9) of the Regulation.
5.4.13. If a verifier detects a case of non-compliance in the period of validity of the registrations or at the time of
renewal, he/she can report to the competent body that the organisation in question does not comply with the
EMAS requirements any longer. At the time of renewal he/she may only sign the declaration referred to in
Article 25(9) and the updated EMAS environmental statement, if the organisation demonstrates that it took
adequate measures (i.e. in cooperation with the enforcement authorities) to ensure that legal compliance is
restored. If the organisation can not demonstrate to the verifier to have taken sufficient measures to restore
legal compliance, he/she shall not validate the updated statement and not sign the declaration and the EMAS
environmental statement.
5.5. Registration
process
5.5.1. The organisation should communicate at an early stage with the verifier(s) and the competent body to clarify
language issues with regard to the documents necessary for registration, keeping in mind the requirements of
Article 5(3) and Annex IV (D) to the EMAS Regulation.
5.5.2. The organisation shall provide material evidence of its legal compliance as described in section 5.1.3.
5.5.3. After fulfilling the EMAS requirements, specifically those applicable to the registration process listed in Annex II
of the Regulation, and having the EMAS environmental statement validated by an accredited or licensed verifier,
the organisation shall send the application form, and the related documents including Annexes VI and VII, for
registration to the (leading) competent body.

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5.5.4. The competent body in charge of the registration shall check the information contained in the application, and
for that purpose, shall communicate with the national accreditation or licensing body and, if applicable, with the
other competent bodies involved. If necessary the verifier responsible for the verification can be involved in this
communication as well. Regular mail, e-mail or faxes are possible options, but written evidence of this communi
cation should be kept.
5.5.5. The
accreditation
and
licensing
bodies
in
all
the
concerned
Member
States
shall
assess,
the
environmental
verifier’s
competence in the light of the elements set out in Articles 20, 21 and 22 of the EMAS Regulation. If the verifier’s
competence is not approved, the accreditation and licensing body can compel the verifier to comply with the
relevant requirements and inform the national competent body about the problem. Vice versa the competent
body must communicate to the accreditation or licensing body in any case a simple message that a registration
application has been received and that there are sites of to be registered. After receiving such a message the
accreditation and licensing body should communicate their findings regarding the verifier(s) involved to the
national competent body. All involved national competent bodies in turn communicate this to the leading
competent body. This facilitates the final check by the involved competent bodies and the leading competent
body whether the verifier(s) involved in the registration procedure is (are) accredited or licensed for all the NACE
codes concerned in the registration process. Without this minimum communication between the competent
bodies and the accreditation and licensing bodies the supervision activities could be undermined.
5.5.6. The competent body in charge of the registration will coordinate checking the legal compliance based on the
information the organisation has supplied to the verifier. Only in the case where a Member State has put in place
special agreements with third countries, that include provisions that allow the Member State to contact
enforcement authorities in the third countries, can they check legal compliance with the enforcement authorities
in third countries directly. If not the competent body has to rely on the verifier and/or the organisation to obtain
material or documentary evidence demonstrating compliance with the applicable legal requirements.
5.5.7. If applicable, following the registration decision, the leading competent body shall inform all national involved
competent bodies, who will inform their respective enforcement authorities.
5.5.8. In case several competent bodies are involved in a registration procedure, the conditions regarding fees as
described in section 3.4 will apply.
5.6. Deletion
and
suspension
of
registrations
5.6.1. The competent body shall follow the general rules established in the EMAS Regulation regarding deletion and
suspension.
5.6.2. Any complaint concerning the registered organisation shall be notified to the competent body.
5.6.3. Organisations from third countries aspiring an EMAS Registration and willing to start a registration procedure
must accept that the verifier may be asked by the competent bodies to verify potential causes of deletion or
suspension which might happen in the third country where the sites are located before making any decision. The
organisation shall cooperate and answer all questions concerning possible reasons for suspension and deletion to
the verifier or to the competent body. The organisation must also be willing to bear the costs of the verifiers
work to clarify the situation.
5.6.4. In
all
situations,
even
when
such
agreements
exist,
the
verifier
shall
be
responsible
for
checking
legal
compliance.
Potential complaints and non-conformities that might result in the deletion or suspension of the registration must
be included in the compliance checks.
5.6.5. NGOs operating in that third country could be consulted and used as a source of information. In any case, the
verifier shall report to the competent body any relevant information that is retrieved during the verification
process.
5.7. Language
issues
5.7.1. The EMAS environmental statement and other relevant documents shall be submitted in (one of) the official
language(s) of the Member State in which the leading competent body is situated (Article 5.3). Additionally, if an
organisation presents a corporate environmental statement with information on individual sites, the information
concerning EU sites shall be in (one of) the official language(s) of those Member States where the sites are located,
and the information concerning sites located in third countries should preferably be in (one of) the official
language(s) of the respective third countries.

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