Policy / Systems / Technology

February 7, 2005

 

'Eco Action 21' Certification for Small/Medium Organizations

Keywords: Government Local government Policy / Systems University / Research institute 

The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) of Japan launched a certification and registration system known as Eco Action 21 (EA21) on October 7, 2004. The EA21 was established in 1996 by the Environment Agency, currently the Ministry of the Environment (MOE), to encourage small and medium-sized enterprises, schools and public facilities to make voluntary initiatives for environmental issues.

After several revisions, the EA21 was totally revised as the 2004 EA21 Environmental Management System and Environmental Activity Report Guidelines in March 2004. The guidelines cover three areas: environmental management systems, environmental performance assessments and environmental activity reporting.

The system will certify and register enterprises that conform with the guidelines and want to obtain certification. First, "Eco Action 21 Examiners" audit and evaluate the applicants' conformity to the guidelines, then after discussions by a judging panel, the EA21 secretariat certifies and registers the approved company as an EA21 enterprise and puts its environmental activity report on the secretariat's website.

The certification and registration are valid for two years and approved enterprises can use the EA21 logo. The costs for registration are 50, 000 to 100,000 yen (U.S.$450 to 900), while costs for screening are 100, 000 to 300,000 yen (U.S.$900 to 2,700). IGES plans to certify and register 1,000 to 2,000 companies by the end of fiscal 2005, and over 10,000 within several years.


http://www.iges.or.jp/en/index.html

Posted: 2005/02/07 12:29:00 PM
Japanese version

 

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