C1.3.2 Scope of the Review
Before embarking upon the Initial Review process, the organisation must decide what the scope of the review will be.
For organisations who do not wish to achieve a formal EMS, this is a completely personal decision. However, for those who eventually wish to implement ISO 14001 or EMAS, it must be given some consideration.
ISO 14001 requires that an organisation defines the scope of the EMS. If the initial review is to be the first step of the EMS process, the scope should be the same.
However, when determining Environmental Aspects and Impacts (discussed later in this section), ISO 14001: 2004 requires:
4.3.1 Environmental Aspects
The organization shall establish, implement and maintain a procedure(s)
a) to identify the environmental aspects of its activities, products and services within the defined scope of the environmental management system that it can control and those that it can influence taking into account planned or new developments, or new or modified activities, products and services,
© BSI
Note the terms:
“that it can control”
and
“those that it can influence”
Control is relatively straightforward. Operations that an organisation conducts, it can control.
Influence is the more contentious element. A large organisation may be expected to be able to influence their suppliers and therefore the actions relating to the supplier may be included in the scope of the EMS. A small organisation with limited buying power may have no such influence.