Political evolution of EMAS: Perspectives from the EU, national governments and industrial groups

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Abstract
The adoption of the eco‐management and audit scheme (EMAS) in 1993 by the Council of Ministers was preceded by controversial debates. The European Commission presented EMAS in 1990 as a mandatory scheme. Industry responded in unison and rejected the compulsory nature of the scheme strongly. When the Commission decided to change the scheme into a voluntary standard, the response of industry became diverse. Industry in general welcomed EMAS as it saw it as a means to improve its image; German industry, however, continued to oppose the scheme. Its criticism was that the scheme did not take into account different emission standards which have to be achieved in different countries. Another important reason was that the management‐oriented scheme does not correspond well to the German approach to handling environmental problems. German companies are more technology‐oriented. An active advocate of EMAS was the UK. As the UK had taken the lead on environmental management systems and environmental auditing, it was keen to push these concepts throughout Europe.

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