Māris kļaviņŠ, azamat azizov, JĀnis zaļoksnis environment, pollution, development: the case of uzbekistan

Figure 11.12. 
Emblem 
of the International 
Organisation for 
Standardisation 

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11. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT: LEGISLATION, POLICIES, INSTITUTIONS
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progressively extending all the above to all its activities and 
buildings;
 
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systematically assessing the potential economic, social and 
environmental impacts of major new policy and legislative 
initiatives and promoting the systematic integration of 
environmental objectives into Community policies;
 
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ensuring  the  effectiveness  of  environmental  legislation  and 
funding in creating environmental benefits;
 
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promoting transparent internal and external communication 
and dialogue with all interested parties.
Organisations are registered with the competent national autho-
rity that assesses the applicant’s compliance with the requirements 
of the Regulation, registers organisations and decides on their 
removal from the register temporarily or permanently.
Pursuant to the requirements of the Regulation, a participating 
organisation should, involving and educating all its employees, 
identify environ mental problems, develop an environ mental policy, 
establish and implement an environ mental management system and 
internal auditing system and draw up an environ mental statement, 
which includes information on what has been accomplished and 
what is planned for the future. The environ mental management and 
audit system of the organisation is inspected by an independent, 
accre dited  environ mental  assessor  (verifier),  who  also  approves 
the environ mental statement. The information included in the en-
vi ron mental statement is updated on a regular basis and is freely 
available to the public and all interested persons.
With the emergence of ‘green’ marketing, ‘green’ consumer orga-
nisations began to develop as well. Consumer protection authorities 
have been active already since the 1960s. Marking of goods to 
indicate that they are environ ment-friendly has been promoted in 
many countries, including USA, Canada, Germany and Sweden. In 
most cases, independent agencies measure certain products against 
similar products to determine which of the compared products cause 
less environ mental impact. Germany was among the first countries 
introducing the ‘green’ labelling of goods (1978).
In the EU eco-label system, ecological criteria are developed for 
each group of goods or services. These criteria are aimed at reducing 
the  product  environ mental  impacts  throughout  their  life  cycle  – 
from manufacture to disposal. The criteria are developed by expert 
working groups under the guidance of the presiding Member State, 
in consultation with the representatives of all interested parties 
(manufacturing and retail businesses, state and public consumer 
protection and environ mental protection organisations).
This  was  one  of  the  ways  to  influence  consumer  behaviour, 
helping them to identify the environ mental impact of products.