Supporting the evaluation of the implementation of EMAS : final report

The EMAS Regulation is evaluated at regular intervals. Based on these evaluations, the European Commission and EU Member States decide whether a revision of the scheme is necessary. The last revision took place in 2009 and resulted in the entry into force of the current EMAS Regulation No 1221/2009 (EMAS III). This study comprises both a backward and forward-looking exercise and its objectives are twofold: 1) to carry out an independent evaluation of the EMAS Regulation using the criteria of effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, relevance and EU added value (ex-post analysis); and 2) to develop and explore policy options for the future of the scheme and analyse their potential impacts with regard to the criteria mentioned above (ex-ante analysis). This final report details the work undertaken for the evaluation of EMAS and the assessment of future policy options. To this end, an extensive review of academic and technical literature, surveys, interviews, case studies, environmental statement analysis and a workshop were conducted.