Attitudes and Experiences of the Japanese Business Community vis-à-vis EMS Standards

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Abstract
EMS (environmental management systems) standards emerged as a completely new framework for the Japanese business community. When considering the Japanese response to EMS standardisation, three factors should be considered.The first is the importance of exports: important because of Japan's geographical location, being an island country with limited natural resources. For example, most of Japan's raw materials are imported (99.7% of oil, 94.7% of coal, 100% of iron ore, and 99.4% of copper in 1994). To earn foreign currency in order to import precious natural resources, Japanese businesses are compelled to work hard on the export side of their businesses. From the Japanese business community's standpoint, certification in accordance with EMS standards received attention because it was regarded as a passport to exporting. When the ISO 9000 series was introduced, many Japanese companies were forced to spend highly, including translation fees, in order to be certified by a European assessor in accordance with ISO 9000 so they could sell their products on the European market. When discussions on the ISO 14000 series arose, many Japanese companies were in the middle of struggling for ISO 9000. The Japanese business community was very concerned and wanted to avoid an assessment system as inconvenient as the one they faced under ISO 9000.

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