On August 12-14, 2013, EEM Professors Joe Cascio and Jonathan Deason were participants in a meeting of the U.S. Technical Advisory Group to the International Standards Organization’s Technical Committee 207 at the Madison Hotel in Washington, D.C. Prof. Cascio, formerly a long-term Chairman of the U.S. delegation to the ISO 14000 process, was an active participant in the deliberations and transactions at the meeting. Prof. Deason was there as an invitee to observe the process.
Each country throughout the world that has membership in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is represented by its own national organization called a “member body.” The U.S. national member body to ISO is the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Each member body creates national mirror committees for the purposes of identifying issues, developing national consensus regarding the work items of the corresponding ISO Technical Committees in which the country is a participating member, and for actively involving themselves in the creation of international standards.
In the U.S., these mirror committees are called Technical Advisory Groups (TAGs). TAGs are empaneled by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and must follow ANSI procedures, including the Model Operating Procedures for U.S. Technical Advisory Groups to ANSI for ISO Activities. The TAG's primary purpose is to develop and transmit, via their country's member body or directly at international meetings, their country's position on activities and ballots related to the international standards under development of their corresponding ISO Technical Committees. ISO Technical Committee 207 (ISO/TC 207) was formed by ISO in 1993 to develop international environmental management standards.
In the U.S., the TAG to ISO/TC 207 (hereafter TAG 207) develops the U.S. positions on international standardization activities of ISO/TC 207, participates in its international meetings and administers ballots associated with its related work items. TAG 207 membership consists of U.S. experts and practitioners in the field of environmental management. Members of TAG 207 actively participate in all activities of ISO/TC 207 including the development of ISO standards and the approval of new work item proposals for additional standards that fall within the ISO-approved scope of ISO/TC 207. Selected delegates and “experts” of TAG 207 have the additional role of representing the U.S. at international meetings of ISO/TC 207 and of its various sub-committees and working groups. Participation in TAG 207 provides an opportunity for representatives of all affected U.S. constituencies (industry, commerce, NGO, education, government, etc.) to influence the development of international environmental standards that have also become a factor under the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules of international trade.
The well-regarded and internationally recognized ISO 14000 series has as its scope of work “standardization in the field of environmental management systems and tools in support of sustainable development” and includes 31 international, voluntary environmental management standards, guides and technical reports. There are presently 25 standards, 5 technical reports (TRs) and a guide published in the 14000 series, with 6 standards and 3 TRs in development. The 14000 series addresses the following aspects of environmental management:
Environmental Management Systems (EMS)
Environmental Auditing & Related Environmental Investigations (EA&RI)
Environmental Labeling and Declarations (EL)
Environmental Performance Evaluation (EPE)
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
Greenhouse Gas Management and Related Activities (GHG)
Terms and Definitions (T&D)
The ISO 14000 series comprehensively addresses the needs of organizations worldwide by providing a common framework for managing environmental issues. They aspire to achieve a broadly based improvement in environmental management, which in turn can facilitate trade and improve environmental performance worldwide.
At the August 2013 meeting, Prof. Cascio made several important presentations about the U.S. Management System Standards (MSS) Liaison Group, the ISO Technical Management Board, TAG Awards for exceptional member contributions, and as Vice-chair of TAG 207 was heavily involved in the major activities at the meeting.
Further information about the ISO 14000 standard series and the ISO/TC 207 development process can be obtained at the following website: http://www.iso.org/iso/home/store/catalogue_tc/home/store/catalogue_tc/…