The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is the world’s leading developer of international standards. The ISO 14000 Series was created as a certification system for standardised environmental management practices. For more information, see http://www.iso.org.
ISO Certification in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Nigeria
Recognition of the importance of clean technology is reflected by regional interest in ISO 14000 standards of manufacturing. National organizations certify that these standards have been established in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. The Philippines is adopting ISO 14000 standards as part of their national standards. Industries in the Republic of Korea are preparing to adopt the ISO 14000 environmental management system, and some companies have already introduced an internal environmental audit. Japanese companies have watched the ISO developments closely and many of them are planning to obtain the ISO 14001 registration, which they see as essential to succeed in international markets.
In Nigeria, the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) is committed to the external certification of its facilities under the International Standards Organization’s ISO 14001 scheme. The ISO 14001, is an international standard for measuring how well the environment is managed by an organization. The fundamental principles of ISO 14001 are compliance with legislation and continuous improvement of the certified facilities. The ISO 14001 certification commitment is a lifelong commitment to the audit process, once the process is initiated. For SPDC (Nigeria), the latter is a transparent exercise that involves external audits, meetings, interviews, site visits and recommendation for or against certification.