So reported Zhao Yingmin, secretary general of the China Steering Committee for Environmental Management System Certification, at the committee's third plenary session held Friday in Beijing.

ISO14000 was set up by the International Organization for Standardization in 1996 and it can help enterprises and organizations to set up and improve their environmental management systems, including the economical use of energy.

To date 20 environmental management system certification bodies in China have been accredited by the government and currently there are more than 2,700 environmental management system auditors in the country.

The international standard ISO14000 is now becoming more and more popular in China and the country is encouraging enterprises and organizations to adopt ISO14000, Zhao said.

For example, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation calls on small and medium-sized enterprises to apply for ISO14000 certification. The National Tourism Administration has adopted ISO14000 certification as one of the criteria for classifying tourism cities.

The country has set up several national ISO14000 demonstration zones, including the Suzhou New District in East China's Jiangsu Province and the Dalian Economic and Technological Development Zone in Northeast China's Liaoning Province.

The efforts in promoting ISO14000 in China have helped upgrade the efficiency of Chinese enterprises and organizations in their environmental management and improve the environment in the country, said the official.

Statistics from 15 certificated enterprises show that the adoption of ISO14000 can cut company costs by as much as 500 million yuan (US$60 million) per year on average, according to Chen Yanping, secretary general of the China Accreditation Committee for Environmental Management System Certification Bodies.

However, there remain some problems for the promotion of ISO14000, Zhao said. For example, the country has not yet established a concrete policy so as to benefit enterprises and organizations that have ISO14000 certification.

But the Chinese Government has nonetheless been attaching great importance to the promotion of ISO14000 in the country.

In May 1997, the State Council approved the establishment of a China Steering Committee for Environmental Management System Certification to manage the promotion of ISO14000 in the country.

(China Daily 06/30/2001)