The present Act lays down, inter alia, implementing measures for the nomination of environmental experts provided for in Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1836/93 allowing voluntary participation by companies in the industrial sector in a Community eco-management and audit scheme. Such accredited environmental verifier has the duty to assure (a) whether the environmental policy has been established; (b) whether an environmental management system and programme are in place and operational at the site; (c) whether the environmental review and audit are carried out in accordance with the relevant requirements; (d) whether the data and information in the environmental statement are reliable and whether the statement adequately covers all the significant environmental issues of relevance to the site. Article 1 of the present Act establishes that, according to this Act, environmental experts include both environmental organizations and individuals. Article 2 lists the requirements concerning accreditation of environmental verifiers. Thereafter, the Act deals also with topics such as: conditions required for members of an expert team, accreditation of environmental experts by the Federal Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Environment and Water Management, application procedures; supervision of experts, dissemination of information or data; experts of other member states, revocation of accreditation, register of authorized experts, administrative procedures, penalties etc. The Act consists of 34 articles divided into 4 chapters.
Austria · 2001-08-07