This article reviews management review in the latest ISO 14001 standard revision, including the management review requirement update and system recommendations for ISO 14001:2004 compliance. The updated ISO 14001 environmental management system (EMS) standard includes a clarification to the management review process and aligns management review through the identification of inputs and outputs with ISO 9001:2000.

In addition, the management review section now provides clarification in the descriptions of the specific subjects and information that’s to be collected and reviewed by top management. Management review represents a company’s environmental management system review to ensure system suitability, adequacy and effectiveness.

The International Organization for Standardization released the 2004 version of ISO 14001 on Nov. 15, 2004. Companies currently registered to the ISO 14001:1996 standard will need to upgrade their systems and have them re-certified to the 2004 standard by May 15, 2006. Beyond this date, the International Accreditation Forum will only recognize certificates for 2004 version. The ISO and IAF have jointly developed a transition policy document with technical details of the transition requirement, which was published by IAF on Dec. 20, 2004.

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