For ISO14001 implementation, is it mandatory that all clauses / requirements be fulfilled by the organization?
What I wish to know is, is there something like Statement of Applicability w.r.t. standard clauses / requirements when going for ISO14001 implementation. Can some exclusions be made with appropriate justification.


e.g. For BS7799 Information security implementation, an organization will exclude E-commerce related security if it does not deal with E-com business.

For ISO14001 implementation, is it mandatory that all clauses / requirements be fulfilled by the organization?
What I wish to know is, is there something like Statement of Applicability w.r.t. standard clauses / requirements when going for ISO14001 implementation. Can some exclusions be made with appropriate justification.


e.g. For BS7799 Information security implementation, an organization will exclude E-commerce related security if it does not deal with E-com business.Under the scope section of ISO 14001:2004, it states: "...All the requirements in this International Standard are intended to be incorporated into any environmental management system...." So, in principle, no exclusions could be made. However, it is possible that some requirements may not apply. For example, if the (fictitious) Republic of Bongo Bongo has no environmental regulatory requirements, an organization established there would have no Environmental Law to consider when establishing it's EMS.

Do you have any specific ISO 14001 requirement that you would consider for exclusion in your organization? Let's talk about it...

In addition to what Sidney stated, clause 4.1 does state that your EMS will be in accordance with the requirements of this standard. Not a lot of wiggle room there. Further, looking at the requirements, I’m not sure there are any that can be excluded. Even Sidney’s example could meet the requirements of 4.3.2. So, the “shall” is still being fulfilled. One could argue that if you don’t use any devices to monitor and measure, then calibration could be excluded, but I’m not sure if that would require a statement in the scope.

Republic of Bongo Bongo


Bongo, Bongo?

Love ya Sid:lmao:

Yes I got it. There may be a situation where Legal requirements are applicable but there are no ‘Other’ requirement to which organization subscribes’
In such a case only Legal is fulfilled and ‘Other’ may still be Not Applicable.

Love ya Sid:lmao: I hope it is some kind of brotherly love; otherwise this runs a risk of turning into a Broke Back Mountain sequel.....:lmao: And I will NOT audition for the role....:lol:

otherwise this runs a risk of turning into a Broke Back Mountain sequel.....:lmao: And I will NOT audition for the role....:lol:

Never happen....................:agree1:

Due to the relatively short nature of the text / clauses of 14001, there's no reason I can see to exclude any clauses, depending obviously on what you business is - you dont tell us. I can't see any clause which would be allowed to be excluded as opposed to 9001/TS where you can exclude bits of 7.3 - design.

What you can do however, is exclude areas of your business from the scope of your EMS in a statement 'somewhere' in your system (typically in a manual / introduction to EMS-type document).

To assess this properly, you should discuss it with your registrar (or at the earliest opportunity if you don't have one yet).

Alternatively, post more info on here and we'll advise where we can.

With regards to 4.3.2 - even if there are no env laws and you dont subscribe to any "other" requirements, you should still have a process for managing this should the situation change.

If you don't have a process, how would you be aware if a new law was introduced ?

As far as I can see there are no reasonable exclusions from the content of the standard.

By the way, any organisation who is registed to 14001 subscribes to an "other requirement" - think about it !!