Use of the EMAS Logo
2. REQUIREMENTS GIVEN IN REGULATION (EC) N. 761/2001
2.1. Applicable legislative provisions:
a) Article 8 of the Regulation ("Logo") establishes:
- the conditions under which the EMAS logo can be used, ie the need to have a valid EMAS registration (paragraph 1);
- the five employment methods (paragraph 2);
- the cases in which it must not be used, ie on the products or their packaging and in association with comparative claims (paragraph 3).
b) Annex III, point 3.5 "Publication of information" indicates numerous alternatives for the dissemination of information to the public, in addition to the environmental statement; in letters a) to f) specify the requirements that the organization must comply with if it wishes to disclose information bearing the EMAS logo. Annex III, point 3.5 states that this information must be:
- accurate and not misleading;
- justified and verifiable;
- relevant and used in an appropriate context or situation;
- representative of the overall environmental performance of the organization;
- not susceptible to misinterpretation;
- significant with respect to the overall environmental impact.
Organizations must take into account the requirements set out in Annex III, point 3.5, letters a) to f) even when they use the EMAS logo for the advertising of products, activities and services, as explained in chapter 5 of this guide .
c) Annex IV, "Minimum logo requirements", defines the two versions of the logo: one indicating "environmental management subject to verification" (version 1), the other "validated environmental data" (second version).
In both cases, the organization's registration number must be indicated.
It is possible to change the format of the logo in Annex IV only in the following circumstances:
2.2. Use of the logo to promote the EMAS system
The need to use the logo to promote the EMAS system is acknowledged. In this context, it would not be appropriate to use either the expression "Validated information" or "Environmental management subject to verification", nor a registration number.
Therefore, for the purpose of promoting EMAS, the logo may be used in the following version:
For example, in the case of:
- promotional material (pins, etc.);
- newspaper articles;
- Commission guide;
- books and publications on EMAS.
This can be done provided that:
- is not used together with the name of an organization;
- is not capable of causing in any way the impression of a registration to the system and the user of the logo does not use it to claim environmental properties for his activities, products and services.
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