Users of the ISO 14001 environmental management system (EMS) standard are being encouraged to provide input through an online survey to the experts developing the next edition of the standard, which is expected to be published in 2015.

The ISO 14001 Continual Improvement Survey can be accessed on the ISO Website at:

www.iso.org/iso/14001survey2013

The survey is currently available in nine languages: English, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish and Ukrainian. It closes on 30 April 2013.

The objective of this survey is to understand the needs of users and other interested parties in relation to EMS standards, in order to enrich the current revision of ISO 14001:2004, Environmental management systems – Requirements with guidance for use, and ISO 14004:2004, Environmental management systems – General guidelines on principles, systems and support techniques.

The survey takes into account key topics from the ongoing discussions in the ISO working groups that are revising these standards, with the goal of continual improvement.

The survey questionnaire is aimed at:

• Individuals in user organizations that have implemented or applied the ISO 14001 and ISO 14004 standards
• Other individuals with a working knowledge or interest in the standards – for example, certification bodies, regulatory agencies, academia, research institutions, trade associations, industry groups, and learned societies

On average, the survey should take no more than 20 minutes to complete. All responses will be confidential, and individual respondents will not be identified. If you opt to provide your contact information at the end of the survey, you will not be contacted for sales or marketing activity. The survey data set will be made available to interested parties upon request.

ISO 14001 is the world's best-known EMS standard. Up to the end of December 2011, at least 267 457 ISO 14001 certificates of conformity had been issued, a growth of 6 % (+15 909), in 158 countries, two more than in the previous year.

The ISO 14000 family of standards is developed by ISO technical committee ISO/TC 207, Environmental management.