ISO 14000: Potential impediments to implementation in the United States
- Shook, Hardy and Bacon, Kansas City, MO (United States)
The past few years have seen a movement away from the command and control style of enforcing environmental policy towards corporate performance and self regulation by way of voluntary environmental audits. The EPA`s Voluntary Environmental Self-Policing and Self-Disclosure Interim Policy Statement issued on December 22, 1995, and the adoption of the ISO 14001 standard embody this principle. With respect to its self-policing policy, the EPA, in return for voluntary disclosure of internal self audits, offers reduced penalties for any regulatory violations identified by such audits. It is proposed that similar inducements be offered to those organizations which adopt the ISO 14001 standard. Although many organizations are happy to see the decline in form of the command and control method of enforcing environmental policy, its replacement brings with it a different assortment of legal problems. The voluntary disclosure of environmental audits and performances could result in the confidentiality status attaching to those papers being lost and an organization finding itself on the receiving end of either a civil or criminal action in relation to information it voluntarily disclosed. A further cause for concern is that the new international standard could be used by the courts to define a new standard of care where a failure to comply could result in a finding of negligence. This paper explores the movement away from the command and control method to enforce federal environmental policy prior to the publishing of ISO 14001 to that of voluntary compliance. The paper reviews new legal issues organizations now face as a consequence and explores ways of protecting information voluntarily disclosed under a self audit. Finally, the paper contrasts the shift in enforcement policy in the United States to the European culture of enforcing environmental policy through performance standards and uniform technology-based controls.
- OSTI ID:
- 353586
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-970677--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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