Official title

"EUROMANAGEMENT-Environment pilot action".

Legal references

Second multiannual programme for SMEs

In the context of Regulation No.1836/93 (EMAS), the European Commission has launched the EUROMANAGEMENT-Environment pilot action to help SMEs concerned.

Objective

• to develop a methodology applicable across Europe to assist industrial SMEs - and preferably the smaller ones - seeking to establish environmental management systems and to be registered under the regulation;

• to assist participating SMEs from the EU/EEA Member States in the design and implementation of the environmental management systems that satisfy the requirements of the regulation;

• to identify and analyse weaknesses, opportunities and adjustment needs for the SMEs resulting from the implementation of EMAS-regulations and to present a report to the Commission on structural and other measures needed, including an assessment of the need for revision of the regulation.

Target Public / beneficiaries

500 to 750 industrial SMEs from EU/EEA Member States.

Operators/measures/tasks

A European co-ordinator is in charge of the organization of the action, the training of consultants and control of their work and of the development of a general synthesis of the action.

A network of approximately 50 consultants operates in two phases. Each consultant selects at least 10 SMEs - especially smaller ones-, if possible from the same industrial sector, executes a seminar for SME managers, carries out an environmental review, designs individual environmental management systems with the SMEs and analyses the adjustment needs and difficulties of SMEs to fulfil the requirements of the EMAS regulation (Phase 1). In a second step each consultant assists at least one of these SMEs in the implementation of the environmental management system and in the registration under the EMAS scheme (Phase 2).

National co-ordinators have the function of national relays, and have in particular to:

• provide assistance to the consultants as regards the selection of the SMEs willing to participate in the action, help the consultants when drawing up registers for participating SMEs on relevant national regulatory requirements regarding the environment, submit reports;

• organise follow-up meetings with the consultants and SMEs of their country.

Calendar

All selection procedures are closed and no additional participation for consultants is possible. The results of the action will be available by the end of 1997/ beginning of 1998.

European Union financial support

The overall budget is approximately 2.5 million ECU.

Information offices or additional sources of information

• European Commission
  Directorate-General XXIII (Enterprise Policy, Distributive Trades, Tourism and Cooperatives)
  Unit B.3.
  AN 80 1/70
  Rue de la Loi, 200
  B-1049 Brussels
  F. +32 2 296 75 58
  Internet: http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/dg23/index.htm

   

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  date of publication: 01/98