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Self Declaration of ISO 14000 Compliance

ISO 14001 Certification has many advantages and we recommend that companies become certified through third party certification bodies (CB's, or Registrars) like ISO 9001, etc.

However, there are three types of conformance:

1. Internal efforts to create an EMS that meets ISO 14000
2. Self-declaration of conformance
3. Third party verified registration

Self-declaration is an option unique to this standard, and thus organizations can simply use ISO 14000 as a guideline. Although entities can self declare conformance to ISO 14000, this only means that they conform to a prescribed system, not to prescribed environmental technologies, pollution levels, or safety. Keep in mind that ISO 14000 does not replace existing environmental regulation but certified companies are typically more quickly alterted to environmental issues.

The decision of what degree of certification to achieve is a business decision. But there are several market, financial and trade advantages realized with certification. It may change opinions of customers, insurers, and non-certification may limit trade.