Eco-standards coming soon

Eco-standards coming soon

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Council for National
Standardization is planning to issue next year specific
guidelines for environmental-conscious companies wishing to
implement the recently introduced environmental management
standards.

"The council is currently studying ISO 14000. Hopefully
Indonesia can begin to use them early next year," said council
secretary Herudi Kartowisastro between breaks at a seminar on
Environmental Management System held by the Indonesian Institute
of Sciences (LIPI) yesterday.

On Sept. 1, the International Organization for Standardization
issued ISO 14000, an international accreditation system, which
acknowledges that recipient companies have employed
environmentally-friendly management policies.

The series was introduced in the wake of the increasing
importance given to environmental considerations in international
trade.

"The adoption of it, therefore, is voluntary. It shows the
company's good-will toward the environment and their customers,"
Herudi said.

Indonesia has taken to ISO 14000 much faster than it did ISO
9000. It adopted the ISO 9000 standard for good quality
management in 1992, five years after it was introduced, he said.

No sanctions will be imposed on companies that do not adopt
ISO 14000.

At least six performance categories are stipulated in ISO
14000, including environmental management systems, auditing, eco-
labeling, and performance evaluation.

According to Herudi, ISO 14000 is being modified to encourage
small and medium-scale enterprises to adopt the guidelines.

The Indonesian version of ISO 14000 will be called the
Indonesian National Standard (SNI) series 14000. It will contain
specific guidelines, accreditation systems and review
methodologies.

P.L. Coutrier, who heads the section on environmental impact
assessment (Amdal) at the Environmental Impact Management Agency
Deputy (Bapedal), refused to acknowledge claims of some companies
which say they have already complied with and earned
accreditation for ISO 14000.

"We refuse to acknowledge them because we have not even
developed a national system to asses and evaluate the standard,"
Coutrier said. (14)