Vol. 420 No. 9
163 Mr. J. Bruton, Mr. J. Mitchell and Mr. Barry asked the Minister for the Environment if he will outline (a) the EC Commission's proposals for a system of environmental auditing, on a voluntary basis, on the activities of firms, (b) the likely cost of this proposal on individual firms, (c) its relative impact on small as against large firms and (d) the proportion of Irish industry likely to be covered by the proposed impact on Ireland.
Proposals for a Community wide scheme to encourage the use of environmental audits were published in the Official Journal of the European Communities No. C76/2 of 27 March 1992, page 2. Participation would require the operation of environmental management systems including the systematic, objective and periodic evaluation of the environmental performance of all of a firm's operations and the publication of a report on the results. The scheme would be a voluntary one. Decisions by individual firms to participate are likely to be taken having regard to the net costs/benefits for each firm.
The Commission's proposals have yet to be considered by the Council.
