I wish to understand that thin line between Major and Minor when it comes to NC for non fulfillment of Legal Requirements for ISO 14001

For an organization located a specific state / territory say there are 5 Legal Requirements that need to be fulfilled as a part of EMS. During the audits it’s observed that one of the Legal Requirement has not been taken care of. Will this non-conformity fall under Major or Minor?

Thanks..

Depends upon severity and potential for significant harm. There is no real quantification measure and the decision about classification normally will rest on the procedures and policies of the auditing organization.

I typically urge companies not to use major and minors in internal auditing. It is just one more thing that the auditee can argue about. All nonconformances need to be fixed.

Generally agree with what Randy says. Some things to consider for classification of major (by exception everything else is minor). Major means a system is ineffective or is breaking down.

So taking your example of pieces of legislation: If the piece of legislation is a siggnificant part of the business or is something that most people involved in environmental management should know about and it has been missed then it might be a major as the company systems have "missed" it - ineffective. If there is an obscure piece then it is probably minor.

It is not a hard and fast rule - judgement is called in in classification of major / minor but I hope it gives you some idea.