ISO 14001 is currently undergoing the final stages of revision. I wanted to provide you a quick update on where things stand. Keeping it brief because much of this was discussed in June, so information abounds.

The current target publication date is the end of January, 2015 and as of 11 May of 2013 it was at the “30.60” or “close of voting/ comment period” stage of development.

If you’d like to see what all the stages of development are, click here. These stages are applicable to any standard, not just 14001. Down the left column are the basic stages, inward from that are the substages; easy to follow.

Essentially, the most recent Committee Draft (CD) is being reworked, and we can likely expect a Draft International Standard (DIS) near the end of this year. It will take until the summer of 2014 for the Final DIS (FDIS) to be released – then in January, 2015 – the next version is Published.

From what I understand, the technical committee responsible for Environmental Standards, TC 207, has two meetings next month, so progress is being made – in addition to whatever electronic correspondence is occurring.

If you happen to be in Bogota, Columbia on the 13th of September you might be allowed into TC 207’s Working Group 6 meeting on “Validation and verification of greenhouse gas assertions and bodies for use in accreditation or other forms of recognition”. Then again, you might not. Bring your sunscreen, just in case you end up at the beach.

And, it looks like there’s a meeting for ISO 14004’s 3rd working draft on the 9th of September (14004 is “Environmental management systems — General guidelines on principles, systems and support techniques”) – very exciting, isn’t it? No? Seriously, this whole suite of EMS standardization is long overdue for an update.

That’s a summary of where ISO 14001 is at in terms of timing, I will let you know as soon as I hear anything else. I’m trying to get a copy of the last Committee Draft – unfortunately it’s been pulled from the normal channels. When I do, I’ll give it a run through.

In the meantime, go forth – and calibrate thyself – and when you do, please do it in an environmentally responsible way. Keep an eye on your greenhouse gas emissions, for example.

Thanks!
Sal