ISO 14004 General guidance - Legal and other requirements

An organization should establish, implement and maintain procedures to identify and have access to legal requirements and other requirements to which the organization subscribes that are applicable to the environmental aspects of its activities, products and services. The purposes of such procedures is to enable the organization to be aware of the various requirements and determine how they apply to environmental aspects of the organization's activities, products and services. An organization should ensure that appropriate information about applicable legal requirements and other requirements to which the organization subscribes is communicated to all persons working for or on behalf of the organization, such as contractors or suppliers whose responsibilities relate to, of whose actions can affect, the organization's compliance with such requirements.

An organisation should have a process in place to anticipate and prepare for new or changed requirements, so that appropriate action can be taken to maintain compliance. It should also consider how applicable legal requirements and other requirements to which the organisation subscribes might apply to or affect new or modified activities, products ad services.

Several sources can be used to identify and maintain up to date information about applicable legal requirements and other requirements to which the organisation subscribes. Such sources include all levels of governments, industry associations or trade groups, commercial database and publications, and professional advisors and services.