ISO 14001:2015

ISO 14001:2004 vs. ISO 14001:2015

1. General Changes at the second Committee Draft Stage

The new standard:

 Adopts high-level structure and terminology of Annex SL, a unified

guideline used for the development of all new ISO standards

 Has been redrafted to increase clarity and accessibility, reducing room

for interpretation

 Introduces two new clauses relating to the context of the

organization, which require the organization to determine the issues
and requirements that can impact on the planning of the quality
management system and can be used as an input into the
development of the quality management system. These clauses can
be found in sections 4.1 and 4.2.

 Makes the adoption of a process approach in the implementation of a

quality management system more explicit, by including clause 4.4.2,
which specifies the requirements for the adoption of a process
approach

 Replaces the term ‘products’ by ‘goods and services’, in order to

remove the existing bias towards organizations dealing with physical
products. As a result, the new standard will be applicable for
organizations of any kind.

 Does not contain a clause with specific requirements for preventive

action. ISO motivates this decision by arguing that prevention is the
task of the quality management system in its entirety, as opposed to a
specific subsection of it.

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2. Structural changes

2004 2015

0. Introduction 0. Introduction

1. Scope 1. Scope

2. Normative references 2. Normative references

3. Terms and definitions 3. Terms and definitions

4. Environmental Management System 4. Context of the organization

Understanding the organization and

4.1.
its context

Understanding the needs and

4.2.
expectations of interested parties

4.1. General requirements Determining the scope of the quality

4.3.
management system

4.4. Quality Management System

10.2. Continual Improvement

Note: The new clauses in Section 4 require the organization to determine the issues and
requirements that can impact on the planning of the quality management system and can be used as
an input into the development of the quality system.

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4.2. Environmental Policy 5.2. Environmental Policy

4.3. Planning 6. Planning

Actions to address risks and

6.1.
opportunities

6.1.1. General

4.3.1. Environmental aspects Identification of environmental

6.1.2.
hazards

Determining significant
environmental aspects and
6.1.4
organizational risks and
opportunities

Determination of compliance
4.3.2. Legal and other requirements 6.1.3
obligations

4.3.3. Objectives, targets and Environmental objectives and

6.2.
programme(s) planning to achieve them

6.2.1 Environmental objectives

6.2.2. Planning to achieve objectives

4.4. Implementation and operation (title 7. Support (title only)

only)
8. Operation (title only)

5. Leadership (title only)

4.4.1. Resources, roles, responsibility and 7.1. Resources

authority
Organizational roles, responsibilities
5.3.
and authorities

5.1. Leadership and commitment

4.4.2. Competence, training and awareness 7.2. Competence

7.3. Awareness

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4.4.3. Communication 7.4. Communication (title only)

7.4.1. General

7.4.2. Internal communication

External communication and

7.4.3.
reporting

4.4.4. Documentation 7.5. Documented information (title only)

7.5.1. General

4.4.5. Control of documentation 7.5.2. Creating and updating

7.5.3. Control of documented information

4.4.6. Operational control 8.1. Operational planning and control

8.2. Value chain control

Emergency preparedness and Emergency preparedness and

4.4.7. 8.3.
response response

4.5. Checking (title only) 9. Performance evaluation (title only)

4.5.1. Monitoring and measurement Monitoring, measurement, analysis

9.1.
and evaluation (title only)

9.1.1. General

4.5.2. Evaluation of compliance 9.1.2. Evaluation of compliance

Nonconformity, corrective action and

4.5.3. 10.1. Nonconformity and corrective action
preventive action

4.5.4. Control of records 7.5.3. Control of documented information

4.5.5. Internal audit 9.2. Internal audit

4.6. Management review 9.3. Management review

10. Improvement (title only)

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The PDCA model in the structure of ISO 14001:2015

Just like the previous version of ISO 14001, the standard is

based upon the Plan – Do – Check – Act (PDCA) cycle. This
model is clearly reflected in the structure of the standard, as
shown below. During the Planning phase, organizations
develop a systematic understanding of their impact upon the
environment and the expectations of the various stakeholders
in this regard, and they establish the objectives and processes
necessary to deliver results in accordance with the
organization’s environmental policy. The Do-phase is the point at which organizations implement
these processes. During the Check-phase, organizations are required to monitor, measure and report
the results, and to verify whether the planned objectives have been met. From this evaluation,
further measures can be derived to improve results even further, which can be implemented in the
so-called Act-phase.

4. Context of the organization

PLAN
4.1. Understanding the organization and its context

4.2. Understanding the needs and expectations of interested parties

4.3. Determining the scope of the environmental management system

4.4. Environmental management system

5. Leadership

5.1. Leadership and commitment

5.2. Policy

5.3. Organizational roles, responsibilities and authorities

6. Planning

6.1. Actions to address risks and opportunities

6.1.1. General

6.1.2. Identification of environmental aspects

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6.1.3. Determination of compliance obligations

6.1.4. Determining significant environmental aspects and organizational risks and

opportunities
6.1.5 Planning to take action

6.2. Environmental objectives and planning to achieve them

6.2.1. Environmental objectives

6.2.2 Planning to achieve objectives

7. Support
DO
7.1. Resources

7.2. Competence

7.3. Awareness

7.4. Communication

7.4.1. General

7.4.2. Internal communication

7.4.3. External communication and reporting

7.5. Documented Information

7.5.1. General

7.5.2. Creating and updating

7.5.3 Control of documented information

8. Operation

8.1. Operational planning and control

8.2. Value Chain planning and control

8.3. Emergency preparedness and response

Performance evaluation
CHECK 9.

9.1. Monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation

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9.1.1. General

9.1.2. Evaluation of compliance

9.2. Internal Audit

9.3. Management review

10. Improvement
ACT
10.1. Nonconformity and corrective action

10.2. Continual Improvment

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