Local businesses urged to brace for ISO-14000
Local businesses urged to brace for ISO-14000
SURABAYA, East Java (JP): Former state minister of environment and population, Emil Salim, reminded producers of leading export commodities to prepare for the implementation of the ISO-14000 environment standard series.
Speaking at a seminar on Environmental Management and Audit Systems held here yesterday by University 45, Emil said the businesses which must be particularly cautious of the ISO-14000 standards -- to be introduced next April -- are producers of textiles, garments, wood and wood products, pulp, paper and leather shoes.
"Other commodities which may be effected by the standardization system are food and agricultural products," he said.
Revenues from the five major export commodities in 1993 reached US$13.9 billion, or more than half of the country's total non-oil and gas exports.
Emil said that some 25 percent of the products went to Europe and the United States, which have the strictest eco-labeling regulations.
He explained that European and other developed countries presently apply differing eco-labeling rules. In fact, he said, a single country may have two regulations: one stipulated by the government and another by the private sector.
The Blue Angel label in Germany, for example, is applied by the government, but Germany's private sector has different standards for assessing textile and plywood imports, he said.
"This gives the impression that environment issues are used as a new means of protection in international trade," Emil pointed out. "But the ISO-14000 standards will help reduce the variation of environmental assessment systems."
The ISO-14000 oversees environmentally-related aspects of industry, such as environment management systems and auditions, environmental performance, evaluation, environmental labeling and life cycle assessments.
The ISO-14000 was developed in 1993 by the Geneva-based International Organization for Standardization.
Emil pointed out that members of the World Trade Organization have agreed that products which are cheaper, because they do not implement ISO-14000 standards, will be rejected from international trade.
This restriction, he said, will be effective starting in the year 2000.
In Indonesia, eco-labeling certification is overseen by the Indonesian Eco-labeling Agency, which is headed by Emil.
Emil said the ISO-14000 standard should be implemented together with the popular ISO-9000, a total quality management standard and a benchmark of excellence.
The ISO-9000, he said, is needed to achieve a degree of quality assurance while the ISO-14000 is related to the environmental effects of a company's activities.
"If our products are going to survive and win in the upcoming free market, we have no choice but to adjust ourselves and abide by the rulings," Emil said.
He also urged consumers to be more critical of products which are environmentally harmful. (pwn/15)